In Your Arms
by OrtonsMistress
Summary: What happens to Gibbs when the Navy Yard is attacked? Chapter 1 contains spoilers from the Season 9 finale, so you have been warned. Will Gibbs get to tell Jenny how he really feels about her? Or will she be ripped away from him too soon?
1. Explosion

**Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.**

A/N: Okay, this will contain spoilers of Season 9's finale. If you have not seen it yet, then please don't read any further until you do. However, the director in this will be Jenny and not Vance.

_In Your Arms_

"Ziva, did you find anything in the director's car after we found her?" Gibbs asked, looking over at the Israeli agent.

"No, nothing out of the ordinary. There weren't any prints and nothing appeared to be tampered with." She replied, shaking her head.

"Dearing is after her car, not her." He said, as the team started getting ready to evacuate. "Jen, he placed something in your car, where is it?"

"It's right outside the building." Jenny said, looking over at Gibbs.

"Get everyone out of this building." Gibbs said, as he went over to his desk to grab his sig, and to get Cole out of the building.

"Bomb experts are still far away." Cole said, looking at Gibbs intently. "You know I was part of bomb disposal."

"Alright, let's go." He said, staring at him intently, before leading him out of the squad room. "Jenny, get out of here now."

"I am, I need to go get Cynthia and the guys out of MTAC." She replied, as she hurried toward the stairs. "I'll meet you outside."

* * *

After almost two minutes of destroying Jenny's SUV, Gibbs found where Dearing hid the bomb, in the back of one of her car seats. "You think you can dismantle this, Cole?" He asked, looking up at the younger man.

"Yeah, it's all about the thrill." He replied, seeing Gibbs glance toward the basement where Abby's lab was, and seeing her still down there gathering up her belongings. "Go get her out of here. This car is too close to the building."

"Okay." Gibbs replied, before handing over his knife to Cole. Rushing inside, he ran down the stairs to the lab and just managed to reach Abby before the explosion, that knocked them both down to the floor.

* * *

In the elevator, Tony and Ziva were waiting impatiently for the elevator to get them to the lobby, so they could get out. "Maybe it would have been faster to take the stairs." Ziva grumbled, looking up and seeing the worry etched on Tony's face.

"No, cause just about everyone was taking the stairs, it would have been backed up." He replied, watching the numbers tick down for the lobby. Before Ziva could even reply, there was a loud bang, as part of the ceiling of the elevator caved in, knocking them both to the ground.

* * *

When Jenny walked out of MTAC, she saw McGee transferring something off his computer. "Get out of here now McGee!" She yelled, as she headed toward her office, making sure that Cynthia was gone.

"I'm almost finished Director." He replied, as the last of the files had transferred. Grabbing the flash drive out of the monitor, he grabbed his bag and was starting to leave, when he was caught straight in the blast, sending him and a few remaining agents to the ground.

* * *

Waking up a little bit later, Gibbs tried to sit up but felt his legs being pinned down by Abby's desk. "Abbs, are you okay?" He asked, shaking the bubbly Goth's shoulder gently.

"Ugh, yeah. Just got some cuts and my head is killing me." She replied, sitting up gently. "I think I have a broken rib though."

"Okay, can you help me get this table off my legs?" He asked, not wanting her to hurt herself further, but he needed to get them both out of the building before it collapsed any further.

"I can try." She replied, standing up and getting a little wobbly. "Okay I stood up way too fast."

"Take your time Abbs." Gibbs told her, even though he knew that time may not necessarily be on their side.

"I'm fine. Which way should we move it?" She asked, not wanting to hurt him further.

"Move it away from you, I should be able to help you push it that way." He replied, as she set her bag and Bert down.

Once they had managed to get the desk off him, they headed toward the stairs, knowing the elevators would be out. "Abby, stay with me. Do not let go of my hand. We don't know how stable the stairs or this building are. Don't look down at any bodies, just look straight ahead." Gibbs ordered, knowing that Abby would probably freak out, if she saw any of their co-workers deceased, or any of his team.

"Alright." She mumbled, as she had a sinking feeling in the pit of her stomach that the rest of their family were in jeopardy.

"Let's go." He said, as they headed up the stairway, trying to climb over fallen beams and trying to watch out for electrical wires.

"Did Tony, McGee and Ziva get out Gibbs?" She asked, knowing that he wouldn't settle for them not following an order, and he had most likely ordered them to stay out of the building, while he went in to get her.

"I don't know Abby. Tony and Ziver were busy getting everyone off our floor and out of interrogation when I went out with Cole." He replied honestly. "I don't know where McGee or the Director are."

Instead of saying anything, Abby let out a soft whimper when she realized that everyone she cared about could possibly be in worse danger than she was. As they finally made it outside of NCIS, they looked around in horror. The window that faced the floor where Team Gibbs worked, was shattered and half of the side of the building was gone. Gibbs got a bad feeling in his gut when he saw that the part of the building where Jenny's office was at was all but missing as well.

"Abby, I want you to go to my house and wait there. I am not taking no for an answer." Gibbs ordered, as he intended to go back inside and look for his team and other co-workers. "Get your ribs checked out and then go to my house."

"Gibbs, I can't just sit there at the house." She tried to protest, knowing that it was pretty futile, after getting a toned down version of his famous stare.

"This is not up for discussion Abby." He ordered. "You are injured and need to be looked at. I am not injured and can go back inside and look for survivors."

"Do you want me to call Ducky and have him come back?" She asked softly, as he looked back toward the building.

"Yes, tell him we need him on the first flight he can get out here." Gibbs replied, as he walked back into the burning building.

* * *

Ziva David never cried, hardly showed a lot of emotion, but as she started coming to after the ceiling of the elevator she and Tony was in collapsed on them, the tears started falling. "Tony please wake up." She mumbled, her body screaming out in pain. "You can not die on me, do you hear me?" Looking around she was trying to find a way to be able to get her and Tony to safety, her knee buckling under her as she tried to pull herself up. "Ahhh!"

"Mmm, Ziva." Tony mumbled, shaking his head clear a little bit. "What happened?"

"A bomb went off and the building was hit." She said, looking over at him. "I am glad you are okay."

"How badly are you hurt?" He asked, having heard her agonizing cries.

"I think I have injured my knee. When I woke up, there were pieces of the ceiling on the back of my leg and knee." She replied honestly. "Can you get a signal on your cell?"

"That's what I was going to check, I don't know how much of one I will get, if I get anything." He answered, hitting send for the first number that he saw.

* * *

Gibbs was walking through the rubble of what was left of the squad room, when he came across McGee's limp body laying on the floor. He had gone ahead of the medic squad, not really listening to their protests of not entering the building again. "I need a medic over here!" He yelled, as he felt that his young agent had a weak pulse. "McGee, don't you die on me. You will not die, you hear." He whispered, telling him the same thing he had whispered to Tony several years before, when he had caught the plague. Once he was satisfied that the medics were attending to Tim, he went on another search to try and find Jenny.

* * *

Ziva and Tony had been sitting in the elevator, neither one saying much right then. "Well I'm not getting McGee or Abby." Tony said, as he hung up from trying Abby's cell phone again. "The signal is probably jammed, everyone trying to call for help, or trying to call and check on their spouse or whatever."

"Do you think you can pull the doors open?" Ziva asked, as she wasn't even really sure what floor they were trapped on or between. "I am sure there has been a movie made where a hero gets people out of a trapped elevator, yes?"

"Well there was Speed, with Keanu Reeves and Sandra Bullock." He replied with a chuckle. "The beginning of the movie, Keanu and Jeff Daniels had to save like thirteen people from this elevator, cause some mad man attached a bomb to it, and wanted money from the City of Los Angeles to not detonate it more. Jack, who was Keanu and Harry played by Jeff, managed to get the doors pried open from the outside of the elevator and rescued everyone."

"So can you do this or not Tony?" She asked impatiently. After the time in the elevator with McGee when DC had a city wide black out, Ziva had been a little leery of elevators.

"I don't know." He replied honestly. "Do you think you can scoot over here enough to try and help me push the doors?"

"I will try." She said, as they started working on trying to get themselves out of the dangerous situation they were in.

* * *

"Jenny!" Gibbs yelled, coughing through the thick smoke, as he made his way up the unsteady and weakened stairs toward her office. He hoped she hadn't been inside the MTAC room, knowing there was no way for him to get in and save her if she were. Walking inside to Cynthia's office, he saw that her assistant wasn't in the room, giving him a glimpse of hope that Jenny had gotten out as well. Going further into the office, he caught a glimpse of red, and saw Jenny crumpled on the floor behind Cynthia's desk, completely unconscious and barely breathing. "Come on Jen, you are not leaving me again." He said, as he quickly grabbed her up in his arms and getting her out of the office. As he made it back to where the squad room used to be, he saw that Tim was being loaded onto a backboard and placed on a gurney to get out of there. Gibbs decided to follow the medics and carry Jenny down to the waiting ambulance.


	2. Aftermath

**Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.**

A/N: I'd like to give a shout-out to JibbsGal1. She is by far my favorite Jibbs author. She has also given me the little extra push to get my own Jibbs story out, just by me telling her what happened on the Season 9 finale last night. Her first Jibbs fic, A New Life is awesome. It is the first of a trilogy, which I hope she will find ways to continue it past the third one. *wink* Here is Chapter 2.

Gibbs had opted to follow Jenny's ambulance to Bethesda, knowing that he would have to at some point go and get Abby from his place, especially since Tim was in critical condition. He was beating himself up mentally for not knowing Dearing's last attack would be the place that housed so many people that he blamed for his son's death. He was just about to pull into the hospital parking lot, when his phone rang, effectively stopping the metal assault he was waging in his mind. "Yeah, Gibbs." He said, answering it how he normally would.

"Boss." Tony's voice came through, as he and Ziva had managed to pry the elevator door open, and get out. Ziva was currently leaning against the wall, trying not to put too much weight on her knee. "Are you alright? What about McGee, Abby or Director Shepard?"

"I was with Abby when the bomb went off. We got out of the lab." He replied, rubbing a hand over his face. "McGee and Jenny seemed to be caught in the big part of the impact."

"Oh shit." Tony mumbled, causing Ziva to look up at him worriedly.

"What about you and Ziver?" Gibbs asked, shaking Tony out of his stupor.

"We were in the elevator going down to the lobby when the bomb hit." Tony replied. "Ziva's injured her knee, I'm just a little banged up. We're heading out of the building now. Managed to pry the elevator door open and I pulled her out."

"Are you okay to drive, DiNozzo?" Gibbs asked, as he would head back to the Navy Yard and get them, if they didn't need to ride in an ambulance.

"Yeah boss, I'm fine." He replied, as he helped Ziva the rest of the way out of the building. "We just got outside."

"Okay, go get Abby from my house and get to Bethesda Hospital now." Gibbs said, knowing Ziva needed to get checked out, and he could kill two birds with one stone in getting Abby there as well.

"Will do boss." Tony said before hanging up, as he and Ziva got to the car and he helped her into the backseat, so she could stretch out her leg. "McGee and Director Shepard were caught in the blast. Boss is at the hospital with them both now. We need to go to his house and get Abbs."

"Alright." Ziva replied softly, as she tried not looking back at the building that once felt like home to her, but now it seemed more like something she had seen back in Israel.

* * *

Gibbs had been sitting in the waiting room of the hospital for close to 45 minutes, wondering the conditions of his agent and of the woman he loved. He was so lost in his thoughts, that he didn't hear Tony and them walk inside. "Gibbs." Abby's soft voice broke through, as he looked up at her and could tell that she had been crying. "Jimmy called me when we were on our way here. Ducky had a stroke out on the beach after I talked to him."

"Damn it." Gibbs cussed softly, wondering what else their team could be put through.

"Yeah, Palmer said he was heading back here. He and Breena have put their reception and honeymoon plans on hold." Tony said, hugging Abby to his side, as Ziva hobbled over to the desk to sign in.

"Okay, that's fine." Gibbs said, as he watched Ziva carefully. "Abbs, did you get looked at before you went to the house?"

"Yeah, the medics wrapped my ribs up. They said to just take it easy for a couple weeks, then follow up with my doctor." She replied, biting on her nail. "Have you heard how Timmy is?"

"No, they haven't been out here since I got here." He said, pulling her to sit down beside him.

"Boss, I'm going to go back with Ziva." Tony said, once her name had been called.

"Alright DiNozzo." Gibbs said, knowing they were all in for a long few months ahead.

* * *

Ziva and Tony were sitting quietly in the cubical room she had been placed in, once she had come back from the MRI on her knee. Both of them thinking over how close they had come to losing their lives as well as losing each other from their daily lives. Their conversation the day before on what they hate about weddings, had caused them both to think long and hard, were they really valid reasons, or we they just denying their feelings to each other. Their relationship had started out full of sexual tension and playful banter, yet after everything with his undercover op in getting La Grenouille's daughter Jeanne to fall in love with him, to their fight after Tony killed Michael Rivkin in her apartment, to him finding and saving her in Somalia, Ziva was starting to rethink her feelings toward him. When the doctor walked in, it had startled them both.

"Well Ms. David, it appears as though you tore your ACL and some tendons in your knee." The doctor said, looking over the results of the MRI. "You will require surgery to correct it. I can set you up in an immobilizing brace for tonight, but you will need to contact an orthopedic surgeon tomorrow for your surgery."

"Very well, thank you doctor." Ziva replied monotonously. She wasn't sure what to make of everything. She felt completely useless now, knowing that Gibbs and Tony were already down a member of their team, with McGee being in critical condition, and no idea really of what his injuries were. Waiting till the doctor walked out of the room before he spoke, Tony watched Ziva's actions closely.

"Are you okay Zee?" He asked quietly, not sure what thoughts were going through his exotic ninja's mind.

"I'm as alright as I'm going to be Tony." She replied, looking at him with the faintest of smiles. "We're some of the lucky ones. We were able to walk out of the building, McGee and Jenny weren't as fortunate."

"Yeah, I know." He said, looking at her softly. "Do you want to stay at my place tonight? I don't think you should be trying to hobble around by yourself."

"Thank you Tony." She answered, as the one of the interns came in and showed her and Tony both how to put the brace on her knee, before giving her some instructions and a pair of crutches and letting her go home.

* * *

Gibbs was still sitting in the waiting room, Abby sound asleep against his shoulder when a middle-aged white haired doctor came into the room. "Mr. Gibbs." The doctor said, walking up to the silver-haired fox.

"Yes." He said, nudging Abby awake.

"I am Dr. Collins, the head neurologist assigned to Timothy McGee." He said, extending his hand.

"How is he?" Gibbs asked, shaking the doctors hand.

"Maybe we should sit down." The doctor said, looking at him grimly.

"What's the matter with Timmy?" Abby asked, looking at the doctor impatiently.

"Well as you know, he seems to have taken the brunt of the impact." Dr. Collins started, looking over McGee's file. "His head is what we're the most concerned with. His brain is swelling and there is also some bleeders. We won't know until he regains consciousness how much damage was done, or if he will be blinded." He said, letting what he had informed Gibbs and Abby sink in.

"Do you think he will wake up soon?" Abby asked timidly, almost afraid of the answer.

"There's no way to tell that ma'am. It's just up to him now." He replied honestly, not wanting to give her false hope, but also trying to be realistic as well.

"What about Director Jenny Shepard?" Gibbs asked, keeping an arm around Abby.

"My colleague, Dr. Mitchell will be out to speak with you shortly on her condition." Dr. Collins replied, as he stood up to leave. "If anything changes I will let you know."

* * *

Once Ziva and Tony came out of the back, Gibbs had told them about McGee's condition making the both of them cringe when they heard. Before Jenny's doctor could come out, Ziva and Abby had both fallen asleep on Tony and Gibbs' shoulders.

"You think McGee will pull through this okay, boss?" Tony asked, looking at the man he considered more of a father to him, than his own.

"I hope so Tony, he's got a long way to go back though." Gibbs replied honestly. As Tony was getting ready to say something back, Dr. Mitchell walked out into the waiting room, and went straight over to Gibbs.

"Mr. Gibbs, I am Dr. Mitchell." He said, sitting down across from him. "Ms. Shepard is in critical but stable condition. She has a lot of cuts and contusions to the left side of her face, she also has some first degree burns on her hands and the lower part of her calves."

"Shit." Gibbs cussed softly, as Tony paled a bit.

"She's also in a coma. Now while it's not too surprising to see, we are worried that she doesn't seem to be responding to anything." He explained carefully. "Her CT Scans and MRI's don't show us any reason as to why she is in this deep of a coma."

"Is there anything we can do to help bring her out of this?" Tony asked, knowing the four of them would be spending a lot of time at the hospital between visiting McGee and Jenny, along with Ziva's impeding surgery and rehab.

"Talking to her might bring her around quicker." He said honestly. "Voices she recognizes may help jog her back to a conscious state."

"Okay, thank you Dr. Mitchell." Gibbs said, shaking the doctors hand, before he had to go on more rounds.

"Guess all we can do is get some sleep now." Tony said, knowing it would be a long night for all of them.


	3. Decisions and Waking Up

**Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.**

_A/N: I want to thank everyone who has reviewed this so far. Also a big thanks to my new beta for this story, JibbsGal1. I originally started this to help keep me occupied this summer waiting for the Season 10 premiere of NCIS. This story is based on how I would like to see things happen. Also if any of you have anything you would like to see, feel free to leave your ideas in a review and you will get full credit. I have no real layout of the story just yet, so it's basically whatever pops into my head at the time._

****NCIS****

At some point during the night, Gibbs had left the waiting room, making sure Abby and Ziva were okay with Tony and headed back to Jenny's room. Walking in, he was surprised at how pale she looked. There were several bandages on her hands; he assumed the back of her legs looked the same. What worried him most was what the doctor had said. 'There is no real reason for her to be in this deep of a coma.' Sitting down in a chair, he picked up her hand gently in his, not wanting to cause her any type of pain and whispered, "Come on, Jen, you got to wake up and come back to me."

****NCIS****

Tony had been left alone with his thoughts. He knew Gibbs would probably be back in the Director's room the rest of the night, so he really didn't have anyone to talk to. Both Ziva and Abby had taken some pain pills and were conked out next to him. Thinking about everything that had happened, it made him realize that he had spent far too long trying to deny his feelings. Sure, he had truly loved Jeanne, but someone else already had tugged on his proverbial heartstrings. Now that day he had come close to losing her; unbeknownst to him, his little 'exotic ninja' had been waging her own war with her feelings toward him, before she had finally succumbed to the sleep her body desperately needed.

****NCIS****

Waking up the next morning, Gibbs walked out of Jenny's room, hoping to find a decent cup of coffee. His body protesting having slept in the hard plastic chairs of the hospital waiting room, and the even less uncomfortable chair that was in Jenny's room. Finding a coffee machine, Gibbs got his morning swill and went back into the waiting room. Not surprisingly, he found Ziva and Abby asleep and Tony holding onto Ziva in his sleep. "Hey, DiNozzo," he said, tapping the agent's arm lightly, not wanting to wake up the girls.

"Morning boss," Tony mumbled, as he tried to get his bearings together. "How's Jenny?"

"She's still unconscious, but she's stable," he replied, sitting down on the edge of the table. "Any word on McGee?"

"Not since about 0400," Tony replied, looking at his watch. "They took him back down to surgery to try and stop the bleeding on his brain. They managed to get it stopped, but they don't know if the bleeding will start again."

"Okay." Gibbs nodded, his mind going over everything from the last 24 hours. "How are the girls?" he questioned, gesturing with his head to his two still sleeping 'daughters.'

"They seem to be okay," he told him. "Abby whimpered a little bit around 0630, but I helped her turn over so she wasn't laying directly on her ribs."

"All right. Why don't you guys go get some breakfast when they wake up?" Gibbs suggested, knowing they would all be going stir crazy being cooped up in the hospital all day.

"Want us to bring you back something, boss?" he asked, knowing it would be a futile effort in getting Gibbs away from Jenny's room to actually go out to eat with them.

"Yeah, sure, thanks," Gibbs replied gruffly, before standing up again. "I'm going to be in Jenny's room. Let me know if you hear any more about Tim, or if you get any information on Ducky."

"Sure thing boss," Tony answered, as Gibbs was already walking away from him and back down the hall.

****NCIS****

Gibbs had been sitting back in Jenny's room for almost an hour when his phone started to ring. Grabbing it quickly, he got up and walked over to the window before answering. "Gibbs."

"Son, are you okay?" Jackson Gibbs' voice came through, laced with worry.

"Yeah Dad, I'm okay," He replied. "Sorry I didn't call you last night. Just been at the hospital. Jenny and Tim were caught in the explosion the worst."

"I'm sorry to hear that," Jack replied, before asking. "Do you want me to come down?"

"Nah Dad, there's not much you can do here," Gibbs replied honestly, taking a sip of his coffee. "Tony, the girls and I are just sitting at the hospital, waiting on any change from Jenny or Tim."

"Okay, well you let me know when something changes." He ordered, as he had come to think of Gibbs' team as family as well.

"I will, Dad," he said, as he turned and looked at Jenny's bed.

****NCIS****

"Rise and shine, sleeping beauties," Tony said, trying to wake Ziva and Abby gently. He didn't want to startle them and cause them to freak out.

"Mmm, what time is it?" Ziva mumbled, opening her bleary eyes a bit.

"It's 9:15," he replied, as Abby started stirring a bit. "Gibbs told us to go get breakfast and to bring him something back."

"Okay," Ziva replied, as she tried taming the wild mess her hair had become during the night.

"Timmy?" Abby whimpered, as she started coming around.

"Hey Abbs," Tony whispered soothingly, as he rubbed her back in a gentle motion. "There's still been no word about Tim, and they haven't had to rush him back into surgery since earlier this morning, so that's a good thing."

"Yeah, I guess you're right," she replied, still looking out of it.

"Come on, we'll go get breakfast and get you a Caf-Pow," he said, knowing she would need her daily fix.

"Okay," she said, as the trio stood up to leave, Tony making sure that Ziva was okay on her crutches. They headed out to the Charger.

****NCIS****

Gibbs was staring at Jenny, who seemingly just looked like she was sleeping in the bed. Dr. Mitchell had been in and was trying to hide the obvious concern he had for her still being unconscious. Gibbs was holding Jenny's hand in his, as he started talking to her. "You remember our time in Marseille?" he asked, running his fingers through her hair. "You need to wake up, Jen. I miss seeing those beautiful green eyes. I want us to work this time. You mean far too much to me to let you walk away again. We've just started to get things back, I'll be damned if it ends now cause of some sick bastard."

"Excuse me, Agent Gibbs," a nurse said, walking into the room. "There's a Jimmy Palmer on the phone for you."

"Thank you," he said, getting up and going out to the nurses station. "Palmer, how's Ducky doin'?"

"He's stable right now," Jimmy replied, shaking his head. "I need to get back to the Navy Yard. Would you want to have Dr. Mallard transferred to Bethesda?"

"Yeah that would work," he said. "Gets everyone in the same building at least. How soon can you get back here?"

"As soon as I sign for Dr. Mallard to be transferred to Bethesda and get a flight back," Jimmy said, as he had already started signing the papers. "Should be there sometime this afternoon at the latest."

"All right, see you then Palmer," Gibbs told him, before hanging up and going back into Jenny's room, keeping his constant vigil over her. "I love you, Jen."

****NCIS****

Tony, Abby and Ziva had stopped at a little mom and pop restaurant once they had left the hospital. None of them had much of an appetite, but they knew it wouldn't do them any good to not eat something. As it was Ziva and Tony were arguing about her putting off seeing the orthopedic surgeon until Tim and Jenny were out of the woods.

"I do not see what the big deal is Tony," Ziva said, getting aggravated with the whole thing. "Once McGee and Jenny are okay, I will have no problems getting my knee fixed. Once I go in for surgery, I am totally useless to you and Gibbs, as far as trying to find Dearing."

"Well, it's not like you are able to do much right now anyways, Zee," he said, stabbing at his eggs. "You need to have this done. The doctor didn't say you could wait for however long it takes McGee and Jenny to wake up. Your knee is damaged, and this brace and the crutches are only good for helping you a day or two."

"Would you guys please stop fighting?" Abby asked, looking up at her two friends. "Tony, why do you insist on badgering Ziva about her surgery? You know she's going to do it when she's ready. You can't force it on her at all."

"She doesn't seem to get the concept that her knee has to be fixed now," Tony grumbled lightly.

"Ziva, can't you see that Tony just cares about you and doesn't want to see you injure yourself more by trying to walk around too much?" she asked, looking over at the woman she considered a sister.

"Yes, I understand that Abby," Ziva replied with a faint nod. "I just do not want to put more stress on everyone, because they have to take care of me, when McGee and Jenny are far worse than I am."

"Zee, we just want to take care of you," Tony said, trying once again to get her to call the doctor. "It's what family does, we take care of each other when someone is hurt. Now even though Jenny and McGee are worse off than you, that doesn't mean you should take this lightly. The quicker you get this surgery, the faster you can start rehab and get back to work."

"Fine, I will call this doctor after we get done eating," Ziva relented, letting what Tony said register in her mind.

****NCIS****

Gibbs had left Jenny's room and decided to head down and check on McGee. He knew that the others were still out, most likely going back to their apartments and changing clothes, so he wanted to see if he could find out a progress report before they got back. Walking into Tim's room, he saw that the young agent was awake and looking around. "Hey McGee," Gibbs said quietly, knowing he had to have a massive headache.

"Boss," he replied hoarsely, trying to turn his head toward him.

"Don't try to move, Tim," Gibbs said, as he got closer to the bed. "How are you feeling?"

"Like I've been blown up," he replied dryly, making Gibbs chuckle to himself. "The doctors said that I will be feeling the effects of the blast for a while. Mostly headaches and such - I will have to go for a few skin grafts once they are sure I can handle it."

"Good, we'll all be here for you Tim," Gibbs said, nodding his head. "Jenny is here and will be for a while most likely. Ziver is supposed to be scheduling surgery on her knee here soon."

"What about Abby?" McGee asked, as he was extremely worried about her, and he couldn't seem to get his doctors to tell him anything.

"She has a couple broken ribs, but otherwise she should be okay," he replied honestly. "They should be getting back here soon. I know they'll all want to see you."

"Thanks boss," he said, as he closed his eyes and started to go back to sleep.


	4. Waking Up part 2

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.

A/N: Thanks once again to my beta JibbsGal1, she is awesome. Also I'm borrowing Tony's calm personality from AliyahNCIS. She makes Tony (in her Remnants of Somalia series) how I picture him to truly be in situations like this. Check out her series if you love Tiva; it is one of my faves.

****NCIS****

By the time Tony, Ziva and Abby arrived back to the hospital, Gibbs had made his way out to the waiting room. Dr. Mitchell had taken Jenny in for another MRI to see if they had missed something, to explain the coma, so that left Gibbs to pace around the waiting room for her to be done.

"Boss, is everything okay?" Tony asked, as the three of them held their breaths, afraid of what could be causing Gibbs to be pacing with the troubled look on his face.

"Yeah, they've taken Jenny back for more tests - see if they've missed something," he replied. "Tim woke up a little while ago. He's okay; the doctors have said he will have some extreme pain for a while. They may take him in for a skin graft in the next couple days."

"Can we go back and see him?" Abby asked, looking at him hopefully.

"Sure, just make sure you're quiet," he replied. "Not sure if he's awake again or not."

"Okay." She and Tony headed toward the doors.

"Zee, are you coming with us?" Tony asked, as he turned back and saw her sit down in the waiting room.

"Maybe in a little bit. I need to rest my leg for a while," she replied, sending him a small smile.

"Okay, text me and I'll come out and help you to his room," he said, as he turned to catch up with Abby.

****NCIS****

A few hours later, Gibbs had checked in on Ducky, who had since been flown in, and discovered he'd suffered a mild stroke, paralyzing his left side. The doctors were hopeful they had found him in time, that maybe the paralysis wouldn't be a permanent thing with the help of some rehabilitation therapy. He was contemplating whether or not he should go back to the Navy Yard when he heard someone calling his name.

"Jethro," Tobias Fornell said, walking into Jenny's room. "How is she?"

"Just waiting on her to wake up," Gibbs replied, looking up at his friend. "She's got some cuts and burns, but they don't want to take her in for the grafts until she wakes up. They're afraid the anesthesia would only deepen her coma."

"Damn," he cussed softly. "Well the FBI is helping in the investigation."

"All right, thanks," Gibbs said, standing up and stretching a bit. "I'll be back as soon as Jenny wakes up."

"Gibbs, let us do the heavy work. You just take care of your team," Fornell said, basically letting him know there wasn't much for him to do.

"Fine," he grumbled, since he wanted to catch the bastard that did this to not only his team, but the rest of NCIS.

****NCIS****

Abby had been sitting vigilantly beside Tim's bed, waiting on him to wake up so she could apologize to him. Unknown to Gibbs or Tony and Ziva, she currently was blaming herself for the explosion at the Navy Yard. If she had found any clues sooner, maybe they wouldn't be in the situation they are now. They'd be up on Cape Cod celebrating Jimmy and Breena's wedding, she would have gotten to be the best woman, and McGee and Jenny wouldn't be hurt like they are now. "I am so sorry, Timmy," Abby whispered, tears filling her eyes. "I know Gibbs said you were going to be okay, but this is a lot to come back from. I promise I am not going to leave your side the entire time. You'll probably even get sick of me."

"I could never get sick of you Abby," Tim mumbled, as he started waking up. "None of this is your fault, so stop blaming yourself."

"How do you know I'm blaming myself?" she asked, not meeting his eyes.

"Cause you can't look me in the eye, and I know you too well," he replied, chuckling softly.

Instead of saying anything else, Abby laid her head down by his arm, letting out a small sigh. Knowing that trying to make her understand right now that the bombing wasn't anything she could have prevented, Tim just started running his fingers through her hair, hoping to calm her down enough to go to sleep.

****NCIS****

Tony and Ziva were sitting in the waiting room in a comfortable silence. She had called the orthopedic surgeon and had scheduled her appointment for nine the next morning to go over the MRI results and see what the doctor had to say - then they would schedule the surgery.

"I am glad I was not alone yesterday," Ziva said softly, glancing at Tony out of the corner of her eye. "I really would have gone insane sitting in the elevator."

"Well I am glad I could keep you sane," Tony replied with a chuckle. "You want to head out, maybe go get some dinner for all of us?"

"Sure," she said, as she stood up with a little help from Tony.

"Feel like having Chinese?" he asked, as they headed toward the doors.

"Sure, sounds good to me," she replied, as they made it out to the car. "Can you take me back to my apartment tonight? I do not feel like sleeping in those chairs again."

"Yeah, no problem," Tony said, holding onto the crutches while Ziva got situated in the front seat. "Do you want me to stay with you, to help out?"

"That will not be necessary, but thank you," she said, knowing that if they spent more time together, especially being as exhausted as they both were, she was liable to tell him how she truly felt about him - feelings she did not think either of them were ready to face.

"Okay, well I will pick you up at 8:00. We can stop for a quick breakfast before heading to your appointment in the morning," he said, as he drove toward the Chinese place they all liked.

****NCIS****

Gibbs was sitting in the same spot he had been occupying since the day before. He was holding onto Jenny's good hand, hoping that she would wake up soon, when he felt a light squeeze on his fingers. "Jen, come on and open your eyes," he pleaded, as he brushed her hair back from her face.

"Jethro," she whispered softly, her eyes fluttering open before she closed them tightly to block out the sunlight that was causing her head to hurt worse.

"Let me go close the blinds." He got up and closed them before moving back to her bed and pressing the nurse call button. "You're going to be okay, Jen. We'll get you out of here and we can finally finish starting over."

"How bad?" she mumbled, as the nurse came in and saw that she was awake.

"Let me go page Dr. Mitchell," she said, before leaving the room again. They could hear the neurologist's name over the PA system to head into ICU 2, which Jenny figured out to be her room.

"There were 26 agents and Navy personnel that were killed," Gibbs replied, answering her question. "That was the last number I heard on the news, before I got tired of hearing it."

"What about your team?" she asked, almost afraid to hear his answer.

"Tony and Ziva were trapped in the elevator," he started, knowing his team was some of the lucky ones. "Ziva has some knee damage and needs surgery to fix. Abby has a couple broke ribs and some cuts and bruises."

"What aren't you telling me, Jethro?" she asked, tears welling in her eyes.

"McGee was the worst one. He got caught in the blast in the squad room. He's okay now, but he had some bleeding on the brain, as well as some swelling. He's got burns that require grafts to fix," he started, as Dr. Mitchell came into the room then.

"Ms. Shepard, glad to see you've regained consciousness," he said, walking over to the bed. "How are you feeling? Nausea? Pain?"

"My head hurts," she replied quietly, looking down at the bed. "That's about it."

"Okay, we'll give you something for the pain." He wrote down something in her chart.

"Thank you," she said, waiting rather impatiently for him to leave so she could finish talking to Jethro. "Have you heard from Ducky?"

"He had a stroke out on the beach," Gibbs replied, sitting on the side of her bed. "Palmer found him and got him to the hospital there. We had him transferred, so he's here in the hospital."

"Oh my God," she said, looking completely horrified.

"You gave me a helluva scare Jen," Gibbs said, staring straight into her eyes.

"How did I get out of the building?" she asked, not really looking at him.

"I found you in Cynthia's office; you were between where her desk and the bookcase were," he replied, rubbing her hand lightly.

"You should go check on everyone," Jenny said, wanting to be left alone then, pretty much giving Gibbs the cold shoulder.

"Don't shut me out, Jen. What's wrong?" he questioned, knowing her as well as he does, he knew what she was trying to do.

"Nothing Jethro, I'm just tired," she answered monotonously. "Go check on the kids, let them know 'Mommy's' okay."

"Fine, but I'm coming back after I talk to them," he said, refusing to let her shut him out or leave him again.

"Whatever," she replied, closing her eyes and pretending to go to sleep.

****NCIS****

After Gibbs had been down visiting with Tim and Abby for almost twenty minutes, Jenny pushed her nurse call button, hoping to get a doctor in that she could talk to. Once the doctor came in, she told him that she was pregnant and she needed to know if her baby was okay. She hadn't had a chance to tell Gibbs before the bombing, and she didn't want him to know now, especially if she had lost their child. After explaining everything to the doctor, she managed to convince him to tell Gibbs that they took her back for more scans now that she was awake. Instead they did an ultra sound to make sure the baby was okay and to see if any damage had been done from the drugs the hospital had her on, or the numerous MRI's she'd had in the last twenty-four hours.

****NCIS****

Just as Gibbs was heading back to Jenny's room from seeing Tim and Abby, Ziva and Tony had walked back into the hospital, with Tony carrying bags of Chinese. "Hey Gibbs. We brought some dinner," Ziva said, as he walked over to them.

"Good, thanks," Gibbs replied, before hugging Ziva lightly. "Jenny woke up a little while ago. She seems okay, just has a really bad headache. Doctors are doing some more tests on her now that she's awake."

"Any word on Ducky?" Tony asked, as he and Ziva processed everything Gibbs had said about Jenny.

"Still no change," he replied, shaking his head. "I'm going to talk to his doctors tomorrow."

"Okay, well we'll go take this food back to Abbs, if you want to head back to Jenny," he said, speaking for him and Ziva. "Ziva wants to sleep in her own bed, and she's got an early appointment in the morning with the ortho doc."

"All right, you two get some rest," Gibbs said. "Try and get Abby to go with you. God knows I don't need another one of you lying in a hospital bed."

"Goodnight, Aba," Ziva said, wrapping an arm around Gibbs' waist.

"Goodnight, Ziver," he replied gently, placing a soft kiss on the top of her head.

****NCIS****

Walking back into Jenny's room, Gibbs set the bag of Chinese food down on the nightstand and leaned down and kissed the top of Jenny's head lightly.

"Hey," Jenny mumbled sleepily, opening her eyes to look at him. "When did you get back?"

"Just a second ago," Gibbs answered, taking notice of her vast mood change from earlier when she all but threw him out of the room.

Nodding lightly, Jenny took a deep breath as she stared into his cobalt eyes before blurting out, "I'm pregnant."


	5. Reactions and Feelings

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.

A/N: I am not a doctor, so anything I mention here about skin grafts is just what I think they would say. I thankfully have never been severely burned where I would require that kind of treatment; I also don't know anyone who ever has. Please leave a review and let me know what you think so far, or if you have anything that you may want to see happen with any of the characters, I will take into consideration.

****Previously on NCIS****

_Walking back into Jenny's room, Gibbs set the bag of Chinese food down on the nightstand and leaned down to kiss the top of Jenny's head lightly._

"_Hey," Jenny mumbled sleepily, opening her eyes to look at him. "When did you get back?"_

"_Just a second ago," Gibbs answered, taking notice of her vast mood change from earlier when she all but threw him out of the room._

_Nodding lightly, Jenny took a deep breath as she stared into his cobalt eyes before blurting out, "I'm pregnant."_

****NCIS****

"Jethro," Jenny said, as he seemed to go into shock at her words.

"You're pregnant?" he asked dumbly, sitting down on the edge of her bed.

"Yes." She reached out and took his hand. "I found out the other day, but with all this stuff going on with Dearing and trying to catch him, I never had a chance to tell you."

"Wow," Gibbs mumbled. He had resigned himself to never having kids again after he'd lost Shannon and Kelly all those years ago.

"This is why I wanted you to leave earlier," she admitted, knowing she should be honest with him. "I needed to talk to the doctor and make sure that the baby was okay. I didn't want to tell you and then have you be disappointed that I lost it."

"I wouldn't have wanted you to go through it alone though, Jen," he said honestly.

"I didn't want to see the pain in your eyes like I did after the explosion on the boat years ago, when you woke up from the coma and realized that Shannon and Kelly were gone again." She pushed herself up in the bed. "I couldn't be the cause of you going through that hell again."

"So is the baby okay?" he asked, leaning up beside her and putting one hand across her body.

"Yes, the doctor did an ultrasound and the baby's fine. I got to hear the heartbeat," she replied, smiling at him faintly. "You're okay with me being pregnant, aren't you?"

"Of course I am; why wouldn't I be?" he asked, looking at her in bewilderment.

"Well Jethro, why didn't you ever have any kids with any of your ex-wives?" she asked smartly. "I just figured you wouldn't ever want any more kids, no matter how much you loved whoever you were with."

"I didn't want any kids with any of them, because I wasn't with them for the right reasons," he said honestly. "Why would I want to bring an innocent baby into the world with them, when I didn't love them the way that I should have, the way that I love you."

"I don't want to screw us up this time, Jethro." She leaned in and kissed him softly. "I hated myself for so long after I walked away in Paris. I wanted to come back to you so many times, but having a real relationship didn't fit into my 'five point plan.' So I took the coward's way out and left you on the plane. Even when I took the Director job here, when you asked about off the job, I was still too focused on that damn plan. I refused to let myself be happy. If I could take back all the time we've wasted Jethro, I would."

"I'm glad we had the time apart," Gibbs said, making Jenny look at him like he was insane or maybe had hit his head harder than he thought when he pulled Abby out of the way. "Hear me out. What would have happened, Jen, if you and I had started back up when you came back as Director? If you would have ended up pregnant then, would you be as happy as you are now about it?"

"I guess you're right," she admitted, messing with his fingers absently. "I just hated it when you were with Hollis though."

Her last statement caused Gibbs to laugh despite the mood he was in. "Well I didn't like it when you were foolin' around with that Dr. Gelfand," he said, turning around and moving up beside her, taking her in his arms. "So let's just say that from here on out, we let ourselves be happy with each other and enjoy the hell out of our baby soon."

"You can build the crib and a rocker," Jenny said, smiling as she thought about it. "Would you be okay if we had a daughter?"

"Jenny, I just want a happy, healthy baby," Gibbs answered honestly. "I mean, it won't make me miss Kelly any less, but I'm not going to hold our baby at fault cause she's a girl."

"I love you." She whispered, putting her hand on his cheek and kissing him softly. "More than you can ever know."

****NCIS****

The next morning, Tony had picked Ziva up as promised at 8:00 on the dot. Knowing they had little time to spare, he helped Ziva get loaded into the car and headed to their usual breakfast haunt on the mornings when Gibbs would make them be in the office early and they'd meet up. Pulling into the parking lot, Tony helped Ziva get out of the car and made sure she was steady on the gravely lot before the duo headed inside.

"Tony! Ziva!" exclaimed a middle-aged woman, seeing two of her favorite customers come inside. Knowing what had happened at NCIS a couple days prior, she had been worried about them. But she realized that if they hadn't said their names on the news, as among those whose lives were lost, then they were okay. It didn't stop her worrying though until she saw them walk in. "I am glad you two are okay."

"Thank you, Ethel," Ziva said, answering for them both. "We are for the most part all right. I need knee surgery though, but Tony and I were a handful of lucky ones to not be seriously injured."

"Well, I am glad you two are okay. What about the rest of your team?" she asked, as they got seated at a table that would be comfortable enough for Ziva to sit at.

"The Director and Tim McGee were seriously injured. Tim had some swelling on his brain and bleeding and some burns on his arms and neck," Tony said, as Ziva looked over the menu briefly. "Director Shepard was in a coma for a couple days. She just woke up last night, but other than some burns and a massive headache, she is doing okay."

"Good, would you guys like your usual?" she asked, as they were pretty consistent every time they came in. Ziva usually got a fruit bowl with oatmeal, and Tony would get a Farmer's Omelet, extra crispy bacon and white toast with grape jam on the side. Ziva would get orange juice, while Tony usually had a cup of coffee.

"Yes, Ethel, that would be great, thank you," Ziva said, smiling up at the older woman.

"So Zee-vah, are you nervous about your appointment?" Tony asked, once Ethel had left to put in their orders.

"No, I mean I already know my knee is shot. There is not much else this surgeon can tell me, that I do not somehow already know," she replied, having done a little bit of reading the night before when she got home, seeing what the surgery might entail, as well as the recovery and rehab process.

"Good, cause I was going to tell you, you have nothing to be nervous about," he said, flashing her his trademark DiNozzo smirk.

"You are such a bean ball Tony," Ziva said, shaking her head.

"It's actually corn ball," he said, making her nod lightly.

"Right, corn ball," she said, chuckling at him.

****NCIS****

Jenny woke up later that morning with a smile on her face. She and Gibbs had promised the night before to not let anything come between them, and he was actually excited about the baby she was carrying. She reached out blindly to grab his hand when she felt nothing but air. Opening her eyes, she was disappointed to find out she was alone in her room. Pressing the button to raise her bed up a bit, she was struggling to get comfortable when Gibbs came back in.

"Hey, hey what are you doing?" he asked, dropping the bag of things he had, and going over to lift her gently into a sitting position.

"These beds are less than comfortable," she replied dryly. "I was trying to sit up."

"Well then I'll help you," he said, leaning in and kissing her softly.

"Hmm, I could get used to those every day," she mumbled with a smile, as they pulled back from each other. "So what did you bring me?" She tried to peek into the bag he sat on the floor.

"Well, I went to the hospital gift shop, found you some things to do while you're recuperating here," he said, pulling the bag up onto the bed beside him. "First off, we have a book of crosswords. Then we have just about every type of magazine you can find - well find in a hospital gift shop," he said, pulling out a huge stack of magazines to prove his point. "Then I got this for the both of us."

"What?" she asked, her eyes dancing in excitement.

"Well, this," he said, as he pulled out a baby name book. "I thought we could sit and look through this, since we have nothing else really to do, and try to come up with some names."

"Jethro, that is so sweet," she said, as she started tearing up. "I'm going to be in here for flippin' ever, aren't I?" she asked, looking up at him questioningly.

"Probably till after they do the graft on you, and the doctor sees you're healing properly," he said. The doctor had stopped in the night before and informed them that they would be doing the graft the next morning and reassured both that the baby would be fine. They wanted to get the procedure done, before the burn healed too much and caused massive scaring which would hurt Jenny worse in the long run if they tried to reopen the wound.

"Promise you won't leave me," she said, staring into his eyes. "I mean, you can go visit Ducky and McGee, but I don't want to be left here alone at night."

"I promise, Jen. I am not going anywhere," he vowed, kissing her softly. "You won't be able to get rid of me so easily ever again. If you leave me, I will follow you to the ends of the Earth to get you back."

"Good," she said, leaning against his chest. "But that won't be necessary, cause you will never be able to get rid of me."


	6. Laughter and Flashbacks

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.

A/N: Once again, I am not a doctor, nor have I ever had a skin graft. I have looked online, and most sites say that a person needs to be hospitalized 1-2 weeks after the surgery. For this storyline purpose, Jenny is allowed to go home after a couple days. My beta pointed out that I may want to do either flashbacks or have Gibbs and Jenny talk about when they got back together. This chapter is doing just that, once she is home from the hospital. Don't worry, Tiva and McAbby will be back in the next chapter. I am currently working on chapter 7, but I'm not sure if it will be done before the weekend.

****NCIS****

Jenny didn't know whether to laugh or sit in shock at how careful Gibbs was driving. She had been released earlier that morning from the hospital, once the doctors gave her the okay, after her successful graft surgery. The baby was fine, and Jenny was told to make an appointment with an OB-GYN as soon as possible, so she could get started on her pre-natal vitamins and have a more thorough exam.

"Jethro," she said, looking over at him, amusement shining in her emerald eyes. "Are you feeling okay?"

"Yeah," he replied, turning carefully onto her street. They had decided for the time being, until she could walk upstairs easier, they would stay at her Georgetown home. "Why?"

"Well, you're driving slower than my grandma ever did," a slight chuckle escaping her as she said that.

"Jesus Jen, you're pregnant with our baby, got blown up AND just had major surgery," he grumbled. "Sorry if I don't feel like driving like Mario Andretti."

"Never said it was a bad thing, just not something I'm used to from you," Jenny said, as he pulled up in front of her house then.

"Okay, let's get inside," he said, getting out of the car and going around to help her. "Can you make it okay?"

"Yeah, just walk beside me," she replied, holding onto the car door for support as she got out.

"Of course I will," he answered, wrapping an arm around her waist securely.

****NCIS****

By the time they made it inside, Jenny was exhausted. "Okay, so that was a little harder than I thought," she laughed, as they laid on the bed that Gibbs had moved into her library since it would be difficult for her to climb stairs. Now she had everything on one floor.

"Well we can rest now," he said, laying beside her in the bed. "You have to admit, this is a lot more comfortable than trying to cuddle in the hospital."

"True, plus we don't have doctors coming in and out, checking on me and my vitals," she laughed, turning over and laying her head on his chest, as her fingers started tracing some imaginary design on his shirt.

"So where do you want to live at," he asked, running his fingers through her long red locks.

"I want to live at your place." His reaction at her response amused her greatly. "I mean, once we decorate - well I decorate, it will feel more like home."

"You'd actually give up the townhouse?" The shock in his question caused her to smirk a bit.

"Yeah, besides you wouldn't be able to get a boat built in my basement here," she laughed, leaning up and kissing his neck softly. "It's just a house, Jethro. It hasn't been a home to me in a long time. Your place, even though you somehow turned it into a huge bachelor pad, it feels more like home than this has since my father died."

"Okay, we'll move you into my place as soon as you are up to it." He knew the doctors said she shouldn't try to use stairs for a few weeks at least.

"You remember the night we first got back together?" she questioned, as she stared at the fireplace, where they had made love in front of numerous times over their time together.

"Heh, yeah," he chuckled softly, thinking back to Christmas Eve and when he practically stormed her house, not giving her a chance to really back down. He knew she had been hiding behind her true feelings, letting the position of Director hold her back but he didn't care. He wanted her to see what she was causing in his mind and heart.

*Flashback*

_Jenny had been sitting in her study, going over some case file. A tumbler of bourbon was beside her when there was an incessant knocking at her front door. Having sent Naomi home a few hours before meant she had to go and answer it. Hoping that whoever it was would just take the hint and go away, Jenny was disappointed when the knocking persisted. Grumbling lightly under her breath, she stood up from her desk and walked with purpose to her front door. Looking out the peephole, she rolled her eyes when she saw Gibbs standing there, looking irritated about something. Unlatching the deadbolt, Jenny opened the door and looked at him, her own look of irritation on her face. _

"_What could you possibly need at this hour, Jethro?" not expecting the fury of words that would come out of her ex lover. _

"_Do you know how hard it is, every day Jen, to see you and know that for some idiotic reason you felt it right to leave me in Paris?" he asked, his cobalt blue eyes blazing into her emerald ones. "What would have ever let you think that I wouldn't have supported you, had you told me what you wanted to accomplish in your life? Did you not believe that I truly loved you?" _

"_How could I possibly believe you loved me, Jethro?" she demanded, as he pushed his way inside the door. "You couldn't even tell me about Shannon and Kelly. I didn't find out for six years after I left you! The only reason I found out then was because you got yourself blown up, and woke up thinking it was 15 years earlier, and you just got word that your wife and daughter were murdered." _

"_Would it really have made a difference Jen if I had told you back when we were in Paris?" knowing he'd asked it before, but she gave some pissy little answer that 'we'll never know' and he wanted a better answer then. _

"_I don't know Jethro," she told him honestly. "Did you really come all this way just to bitch about something we've already fought about?"_

"_No" he grumbled, looking slightly pissed off. "I'm tired of fighting with you, Jen. Can't you see that we are meant to be?" _

"_We're not the same people we were in Paris, Jethro," she said, looking up at his still handsome face. "I'm your boss now; it wouldn't bode well for us to start shacking up." _

"_You really think the right term to use for us is shacking up?" he whispered, walking toward Jenny, almost like a lion toward his prey. "Who really gives a damn what other people think Jen? They're not us; they don't know what we feel toward each other." _

_Not able to say anything, Jenny had backed herself against the table that sat against the wall, just by the front door. Staring up into his eyes, she felt herself drowning in the ocean that swirled inside. Licking her lips lightly, she was unaware of Gibbs watching her every move intently. Her eyes moved down his face and to his muscular chest, staring at the arms that held her protectively many nights in Marseille, the calloused hands that explored every inch of her body, before looking back up into his eyes and whimpering, "Jethro, please." _

_Those two words were all that Gibbs needed to hear. He stepped up to her, grabbing her in his arms and kissing her as passionately as he could muster. Tangling his fingers through her wavy hair, he tilted her head back and began his assault on her neck. Lifting her up onto the table, he lowered his hands from her hair, grabbing her hands in his and lifting them up and pinning them to the wall. Neither one wanted to break the contact, as they had craved each other's touch ever since she walked back into his life seven years before. _

*End Flashback*

"I think we know to appreciate each other more, now," Jenny said, looking up at the man she saw spending the rest of her life with. Of course neither had mentioned anything about marriage or long-term stuff, but she was confident in them this time around so it didn't scare her. "I know that I want us to work this time."

"We will, Jen, cause I'll be damned if I lose you," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"You know, I got a name for your new boat," she informed him, looking away with a smirk.

"What?" he asked, rubbing his hand lightly on her stomach.

"Gibblet," she replied. "It is after all where he or she was conceived."

"You mean that night that you stormed over to my house, chewing me out for telling Suzanne Roberts to get lost when she and her crew were trying to disrupt the murder investigation of the petty officer?" he questioned, a smug smirk crossing his face.

"Yes, that night Jethro," she laughed. "I swear I could have throttled you when I got that call."

"Uh huh," he mumbled, looking at her with a lazy look of love.

*Flashback*

"_Leroy Jethro Gibbs!" Jenny stormed down the stairs of Gibbs' basement, seeing him down there working on his stupid boat. "I swear to God I could strangle you."_

"_Nice to see you too, sweetie." He had a good idea why she was so pissed, but he was trying to get on her good side._

"_What do you think you were trying to do?" she grumbled. "You can't just go acting holier than thou when the press is wanting answers to questions surrounding a murder." _

"_She had no business being there Jen," he growled, taking up a defensive stance. "All they were trying to do was get in my damn way, wouldn't leave me or Ziva alone to do our jobs." _

"_Did you really need to rip the camera out of the guy's hand and yank the memory card out?" Jenny asked, going over to his workbench and pouring herself some bourbon. _

"_The last thing we need, Jen, is for crime scene photos to wind up in the paper or on the TV," he growled, as it was a highly publicized murder already since it was a Senator's son. _

"_Yeah, well I have Sec-Nav down my throat now because of your antics," she said, as he walked up into her personal space. "He said that I need to control you better." _

"_You need to control me, huh," he asked, flashing her his famous smirk. "Just how would you control me, Jen?"_

"_Jethro, this is serious. You can't just keep pulling this shit," she said, trying not to look at him, knowing what that look would end up doing to her. "This is why I didn't want us to get involved again. You seem to think you can get away with anything, cause you're 'bangin' the director." _

"_I can't believe you just said that, Jen," he said, looking at her astonished. "I do NOT think of you like that. Even when you were my probie, it was never about that. I didn't let you get away with anything. You and I, now and in Paris, have been so much more. The connection we have to each other, the intensity of when we make love - it's way more to me than just 'bangin' the director." _

"_You know if DiNozzo ever heard you saying all this, he would fall over in shock," she laughed. _

"_I tell you how I feel, and you go and bring up DiNozzo?" he asked._

"_You want to know how I feel about you?" she asked, staring him straight in the eye. She'd had a few glasses of bourbon at the office, as she had been listening to Sec-Nav yell at her about Gibbs' behavior, and the one she had just then was making her feel pretty good. "You couldn't handle everything I feel for you." _

"_Try me," he said, smirking at her, as he sat down on the hull of the boat. _

"_Heh," she laughed lightly, before walking over and kissing him deeply. _

"_Mmm," he moaned, as she pushed him back into the boat, laying herself down on top of him._

"_Let's make us some memories on this bad boy," she said, as she started unbuttoning her blouse._

*End Flashback*

"So we've essentially made us some memories on the boat," she said, smirking up at him. "I can't wait till our baby is born."

"Me too," he replied, kissing the tip of her nose. "Do you want to be at the hospital tomorrow while Ziver has her surgery?"

"Yeah, she's going to need all of us to help her through this," she said. "I know she will be going stir crazy going through this recovery."

"Okay, well that's settled. What do you want for dinner tonight?" he asked, getting up out of the bed to grab his phone.

"Want to get some pizza?" she asked, as a double pepperoni and banana pepper sounded good to her.

"All right, I'll call it in," he said, knowing what she usually liked on the pizza.

Once he had hung up the phone, Jenny pulled him back down onto the bed with her. "Can I ask you something, and you answer me honestly?" she asked, making herself comfortable, as she tried to keep her leg straightened out.

"Sure honey, when have I ever not been honest?" he asked. "When you've asked me a direct question."

"Would you be mad if I resigned from NCIS?" she asked, afraid that she would let him down.

"No," he replied, furrowing his brow. "Why would you think I would be mad at you?"

"Cause then you wouldn't get to spend a lot of time with me," she answered, messing with his fingers. "I mean, I know you like spending time with me at work when you get a break."

"Yeah, but I'm going to be spending forever with you anyway," he said, leaning in and pecking her lips. "It doesn't matter to me if we aren't working in the same building. What does matter is that you are here at night when I come home."

"I love you," she said, as she flung herself into his arms. She knocked him onto his back and leaned in to kiss him with as much love and intensity as she could muster.

"I love you too," he mumbled.


	7. Surgery and Conversations

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait. Been busy with the holiday weekend and getting a tooth pulled yesterday, but I wanted to get this up today for you guys. This chapter's more of a filler to get where I need to be. The next chapter will be much better I promise. Thanks again for the great reviews. I love hearing what you all think of this.

*NCIS

Ziva was lying in her hospital bed, waiting for her surgery to start. She lay there nervously picking at the tape holding her IV in. Tony had gone down to see how Ducky was doing, since Gibbs had asked him to look in on the ME while he was at home with Jenny. She sat lost in her thoughts that she didn't notice the door to her room open or two people walk inside.

"Ziver," Gibbs said gently, not wanting to startle the young woman he thought of like a daughter.

"Gibbs, Jenny," Ziva said, looking up at the both of them. "What are you guys doing here?"

"You didn't really think we would let you go through this operation alone, did you?" Jenny asked, going over and sitting in the chair.

"It is just a simple surgery; I will be able to go home tonight and I will be as good as new in a month," she said, in such a nonchalant way that it made Gibbs and Jenny look at her questioningly.

"Ziver," Gibbs said, knowing she wasn't telling the whole truth or she was in a sever case of denial. "You can't lie to us."

"I am not Gibbs," she replied, looking up at him. "The doctors said I will be better in a month."

"Ziva, they said you will be better to start PT in a month," Tony corrected as he walked into the room.

"This is ridiculous, Gibbs. You need me out in the field looking for this monster," Ziva grumbled, sending Tony a small glare for blabbing everything to Gibbs and Jenny.

"Told you she would be going stir crazy," Jenny mumbled to Gibbs. "Ziva, we just want you to get better. If it means you have to take a few months off, then that's what you have to do."

"How's Duck, Tony?" Gibbs asked, looking over at his agent.

"They have him started on speech therapy, and they're doing something to help him build his strength back up on the left side," he replied, looking over at his boss.

"Good," he replied, as the nurse came in then to give Ziva some 'happy medicine' to get her ready to go into the OR. "Good luck, Ziver." He leaned down and kissed her forehead gently.

"See you after surgery," Tony said, looking at her gently as his stomach was full of knots and worry.

*NCIS

While Ziva was in surgery, Jenny, Gibbs and Tony headed out to the waiting room. Jenny had her leg propped up on a table, and her head lying on Gibbs' shoulder. Tony sat across from them, his leg bouncing up and down nervously.

"Hmm," Jenny sighed, as she sat playing Solitaire on her phone. Gibbs was idly massaging the back of her neck, making her feel like she could fall asleep.

"Do you guys want some coffee?" Tony asked, standing up from his seat.

"Sure," Gibbs replied, while Jenny shook her head no. "Grab Jenny some orange juice."

"All right, be back soon," he said, walking down the hallway.

"You know, pretty soon you're going to have to tell your team that we are together, and I'm pregnant," Jenny chuckled, as Gibbs placed a soft kiss on her lips. "Abby will definitely be the most excited. Mommy and Daddy finally together again."

"Yeah, well I like having you all to myself for right now," he replied gruffly, not ready to share her with the others yet. "We'll tell them when everyone is out of the hospital."

"You need to learn how to share, Jethro, before the baby comes," she teased, as he moved his hand up and started massaging her scalp. "If this didn't feel so damn good, I'd hate you right now."

"Why," he questioned, smirking at her. "I'm just trying to help you relax."

Smirking mentally, Jenny leaned up and whispered in his ear. "You are making me want to do unspeakable things to you right now."

"Jennifer Marie Shepard, I am shocked," he said, looking at her in amusement. "You are never this crass."

"Getting blown up and telling the man that I love that we're having a baby tends to do that to a woman," she replied with a shrug. "I was reading that pregnancy book you got me. Hormones are running rampant, boy. It says that I can be looking forward to a lot of sex until the day I give birth. It just depends on the woman."

"Lucky me then," he laughed, leaning in and stealing a quick kiss before Tony came back with their drinks. "Think you feel like making a drive up to Stillwater this weekend? Dad wants to see for himself that you are okay. Doesn't trust me when I say it."

"Yeah, it should be fine," she said, nodding lightly. "If I get uncomfortable, we can pull over for lunch and I can stretch."

"Good, cause I kind of already told him we'd be there," he said, as there was no giving Jackson Gibbs a 'no' on his demand that his son and hopefully future daughter-in-law come visit him.

*NCIS*

Almost an hour and a half later, Ziva was finally out of surgery and back in her room. The trio made their way down the hall and went in and saw her still sleeping. Once Jenny and Gibbs made sure that Tony was okay, sitting there with her, they headed back to Jenny's place. Her leg was starting to throb, and she needed to have it propped up more than on just the little table in the waiting room.

After being home for a little bit, Jenny wondered where Gibbs had wandered off to, as the house was too eerily quiet for having him there. She managed to get out into the kitchen, with some help from the wall and a few decorative tables. "Jethro, what are you doing?"

"Making us some dinner," he said. "Figured you were getting tired of take out."

"Smells delicious." It was then she noticed there was a grill in her backyard that was never there before. "Um, did I fall asleep or something?"

"Yeah, you did," he chuckled, putting some cooked asparagus onto a plate. "Pretty much as soon as you got into the study."

"Oh, sorry." She watched as he went out to get the steaks off the grill. She couldn't help but stare at his ass in the jeans he was wearing. She had been so caught up in her staring that she didn't realize that he had walked back into the kitchen.

"Jen, you okay?" looking at her with a smirk. Gibbs seemed to know exactly where her mind was at.

"Shut up," was all she managed to retort with.

"What do you want to drink?" Gibbs asked, sitting her plate in front of her, before going to grab a beer and whatever she wanted.

"Milk I guess," she grumbled lightly, knowing she couldn't have any alcohol. "Wonder if Tony got Ziva back home okay?"

"Could call them," Gibbs suggested. "Find out."

"Yeah, I guess I could," she said, taking her glass of milk from him. She pulled out her cell phone from her purse. "Seeing as you are incapable of talking more than few sentences at a time."

"Funny, Jen," he mumbled, cutting up his steak to start eating.

"Hello," Tony's voice came through the phone, before Jenny could say anything else.

"Tony, how's Ziva doing?" Jenny questioned, worried about her old partner.

"We're fine, just got home from the hospital a little bit ago," he said as he went into the kitchen to get an ice pack to put on Ziva's knee. "She can't start physical therapy for three weeks, and at best she will be going at least four days a week. I'm staying here with her, cause she isn't allowed to really move around by herself."

"Okay, well we're here if you need any help Tony," Jenny said seriously, knowing Gibbs felt almost like a father to Ziva and would do whatever he could to help her out.

"All right, thanks Jenny. How are you doing?" he questioned, laying the ice pack on Ziva's leg, making her wince slightly at the coolness of it.

"I'm okay, trying to take it easy," she said, chuckling softly as she bit into a piece of asparagus.

"Giving Gibbs hell?" he asked, hearing her chuckle.

"Of course, what fun is it if I don't?" she asked, looking at Gibbs with a playful smirk knowing he was wondering what she was talking about. "Well, I am going to get off here, DiNozzo. Need to call and check on Abby and Tim. If you guys need us though, don't hesitate to call."

"Will do, Director," Tony said, before they said their goodbyes and hung up.

*NCIS

After calling and checking on Abby and McGee, Jenny placed her phone back down beside her. "The kids are all okay."

"Good," Gibbs said, smirking at her. "So what's not fun if you don't?"

"Give you hell," she replied with a playful smirk of her own. "Can we go to bed after dinner?"

"Sure, are you feeling okay?" He reached over to feel her forehead. Gibbs looked at her worriedly.

"Yeah, just tired is all. It's been a rather busy day."

"All right, as long as you're sure," he said, not wanting her to act like she was fine if she wasn't.

"I'm fine, Jethro. I'm just tired." She sent him a reassuring smile, and finished what she could of her dinner.


	8. Lazy Days and Nights

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.

A/N: Okay, now most of you will probably not care, but I feel like since I intended for this to be a Jibbs fic, I should focus primarily on them. I will do spots with the team, but trying to handle all that, when I have more Jibbs ideas than I do the others is hard to do. So if you have any Tiva or ideas for McGee and Abby feel free to share them. You will get full credit for the ideas.

****NCIS****

The next few weeks flew by fairly fast as Jenny had finally been given the all clear on being able to take more than a sponge bath. She was enjoying her time while Gibbs was going through things at his place, trying to make room to move Jenny in permanently that weekend. She decided to take the time, while she was in the bath, to talk to her baby. She'd read that talking to the baby early on in the pregnancy would get he or she used to the parents' voices, and she had nobody else around to talk to, so she gave it a shot.

"You know, Lil' Bit, you are already so special to me and your daddy." She started rubbing her stomach lightly. "There have been so many times over the last fourteen years that I would never believed this would happen, at least not with your daddy. Mommy did a lot of crazy things to ruin her relationship with daddy; I thought I needed this NCIS career to make me happy and successful. Little did I know that meeting your dad would make me rethink that; well years later I would."

While Jenny was upstairs, she didn't hear Gibbs walk inside or the boxes dropping with a 'thud' to the floor. When he got upstairs, he heard her talking to someone. When he heard her mention him, it made him stop in his tracks, a lazy smile crossing his face when he realized she was talking to their baby.

"So about a year after I got hired on as the Director of NCIS, your daddy started dating Colonel Blondie. I couldn't stand her; she was always around, even when we weren't working a case with Army CID. I wanted to rip her blonde hair out of her head when I saw her walking out of your daddy's house one night. I had stopped by for something, and I saw her leaving. Naturally I let my imagination run wild, but you don't want to know what I was thinking. I wanted to be her though, that much I will tell you. Then on Christmas Eve, your daddy came over here with the intention of making me see how foolish I was being, trying to make me see that I could have both a career and someone to love in my life. That he, and now you, would fit into my five-point plan." She finished with saying, "I love you, my little one."

"Jen," Gibbs gruff voice said, breaking her out of her thoughts.

"Hey, when did you get back?" she asked, a faint blush staining her cheeks.

"A few minutes ago." Taking off his clothes, he walked toward the bath. "Long enough to hear you wanted to rip Colonel Blondie's hair out."

"Well, you knew how I felt about her," she mumbled, scooting forward enough to make room for him to climb in behind her. "So it shouldn't come as a complete surprise."

"It's not a complete surprise, especially when you didn't hide it well back then," he laughed, wrapping his arms around her. He rested his hands on top of hers, which were placed on her stomach.

"Oh, like you just loved the idea of me and Dr. Gelfand?" she questioned, turning her head to smirk at him. "Face it, Jethro, you hated even hearing me talk on the phone with him."

"Never said I didn't." Keeping his arms around her waist, he leaned in and started nuzzling her neck.

"So then don't give me a hard time," she laughed, lying against him lazily.

"I brought some empty boxes over. Thought we could start packing up some tonight if you felt like it," he mumbled in her ear, his warm breath tickling her neck.

"Yeah, that sounds good. We can work up here; I don't feel like walking back downstairs again."

"Are you feeling okay?"

Trying to stifle a yawn, she nodded, before replying. "Yeah, I'm fine just really tired."

Moving his hands up to her shoulders, Gibbs started massaging them and her neck. He knew the last few weeks had been stressful for her, as she had been taken off work for an indeterminate amount of time. Feeling her starting to relax in his arms, Gibbs moved to help her out of the bath.

"Come on, Jen, let's get you into bed. I'll start packing up your room for you."

"I want to help," she mumbled, trying to force her eyes back open.

"Just rest, Jen. You obviously need it. I'll pack up here and get started on dinner."

"Hmm," she sighed, before finally succumbing to the sleep that was plaguing her.

****NCIS****

Abby had been staying with McGee since his release from the hospital the week prior, though the computer geek didn't seem to mind. "Timmy, do you want me to fix you some dinner?" she asked, walking out of the bedroom.

"Yeah, I'm fine with whatever you want."

"Are you sure you're okay to play these games?" she asked, worried about the concussion he was still recuperating from. The intense graphics of his games would be wrecking havoc on his brain.

"Yes, the doctor said I can resume normal activity, within reason, so I'm only going to play for a little while longer."

"Okay, I'll go fix us something to eat."

"Are you okay Abby?" he asked, knowing there was something amiss with his best friend. She hadn't been acting normal since the bombing. Not that he could really blame her, but he missed her mile-a-minute explanations of things, her bubbly personality and the ten empty Caf-Pow cups lying in the trash cans.

"Yes Timmy, I'm fine," she lied, looking up at him. "Why wouldn't I be? You're alive and okay, Director Shepard is okay, Ducky is making a nice recovery and Ziva is slowly starting rehab on her knee. So why wouldn't I be fine?"

"Okay Abs, I believe you," he said, not wanting to upset her and knowing the only person who could help calm her down was taking care of Jenny.

"All right, I'll go start dinner now," she said, turning and going into the kitchen, looking for something to fix, and wiping her tears away discreetly.

****NCIS****

"I swear I want to find the guy who made crutches and beat him to death with them," Ziva grumbled lowly, as she was still having trouble trying to get used to walking with them.

"What makes you think it was a guy who invented them?" Tony asked, smirking at her a bit. "What if it was a woman?"

"No woman would invent something this hideous and more dangerous for people to walk on than their own two feet," she replied, sending a glare his way. She then asked, "What movie are you making me watch now?"

"Well Zee-vah, we are watching the cult classic, National Lampoon's Animal House," he answered, taking the crutches from her once she sat down. "Do you want me to get some ice for you to put on your knee?"

"No, I already had it on before I came out here."

"Okay, well pizza should be here soon. Do you need anything before we start this?" he asked, wrapping an arm around her shoulders loosely.

"No, I shall wait till the pizza gets here," she said, trying not to let the faint smell of his cologne get to her.

If she was being quite honest with herself, she knew she was in for a world of trouble when she agreed to let Tony stay with her until she was able to get back on her feet. She wasn't sure how much longer she would be able to deny her feelings for him. Unbeknownst to her, Tony was waging his own war over his feelings toward the exotic beauty.

****NCIS****

"Jethro, what are you doing?" Jenny asked, when she woke from her nap a couple hours later and saw him standing and staring at her closet like he wasn't sure what to do with everything in it.

"Good Lord, do you have enough shoes, Jen?" he asked, staring at the massive pairs of heels on the floor of the closet. He hadn't even really looked at the clothes; he was too transfixed by how one person could have a million pairs of heels it seemed.

"Different outfits need different shoes," she replied, a lazy smile on her face. "Can you take a break from packing and come lay with me?"

"Yeah," he replied, going over and laying down beside her on her bed. He wrapped his arms around her stomach loosely.

"Have you decided when you're going to tell the team?"

"Do we really need to tell them?"

Smacking his arm lightly, she turned over to look at him. "Yes Jethro, you need to tell them. Pretty soon it will be obvious that I'm pregnant. You've been staying here with me, and they know this. I just think it would be better if you tell them before DiNozzo comes up with some wacky idea in his mind on how we ended up together.

"All right, I'll tell them," he said. "We still need to go up to Stillwater and tell Dad. Think we want to do it next week?"

"Yeah, now that Ducky is doing better, I wouldn't mind taking a little trip," she replied, running her fingers through his hair.

"We'll have everyone over once we get home for dinner; we can tell them then."

"Okay, so what is Stillwater like?" she questioned, having never really heard him mention much about where he grew up. Hell, until a few years ago she never knew that his father was still alive - not until they had a case that took them back to that small coal-mining town in Pennsylvania.

"Nothing really glamorous," he replied gruffly. "Small little town where everyone knows everyone's business. Few little mom and pop diners and dad's grocery store."

"So it's a quaint little town?" she asked.

"Yeah, something like that."

"Well, I am looking forward to going there," she said, before getting a devilish smirk on her face. "I can finally find out what the great Leroy Jethro Gibbs was like as a child." After those words left her mouth, Gibbs suddenly had a gut feeling that this trip home wasn't going to be much fun or relaxing for him, especially if Jenny was able to get Jackson to tell her all kinds of stories about him growing up.

"Hey Jen, there's not really much to find out," he said, as she got up from the bed and started packing some more.

"I just want some stories so I know what to expect with our baby."

"Our baby will be just like you."

"Dear Lord I hope not," she laughed, as she had been shy through much of her childhood - until she reached her freshman year of high school when she started coming out of her shell.

"Why wouldn't you want the baby to be like you?" he questioned, not seeing any good reason for her to not want their baby like her.

"Yeah, you're not going to get me to crack," she replied, shaking her head as she tossed a shirt at him. "You'll get me to tell you what I was like, then somehow manage to get your dad to not tell me anything about you."

"I promise, I won't say a word to him," he said, trying to get her to cave.

"Let's wait till after we see your dad."

"Okay, sounds good to me."

"Thank you," she said, going over and kissing him softly. "Would you mind going and getting some Chinese for dinner tonight? I've got a craving for some Sweet and Sour Chicken with some Crab Rangoon."

"Yeah, sounds good to me. Do you want anything else?"

"Surprise me," she laughed, as she went into the bathroom to grab things she wouldn't need till they had moved.

"Be back in thirty," he called, as he grabbed his wallet and keys and went downstairs.

Nodding her head lightly, Jenny continued busying herself with packing, thinking about their trip in a few days—as well as their new baby that she would protect with her life.


	9. Stillwater

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. If I did, there would be no summer hiatus.

A/N: So here is another chapter. I've also started another Jibbs fic with Kelly alive. It is set in 1998, before Paris, so if you love Jibbs you should check it out. It is called Accidentally in Love. This chapter kicked my butt for some reason; it did not want to get written.

****NCIS****

The drive for Gibbs and Jenny up to Stillwater had been peaceful at best. Of course, with Jenny sleeping most of the way there, he hadn't had anyone to argue with. When he pulled up in front of his childhood home, Gibbs didn't have the heart to wake Jenny up-knowing she hadn't been sleeping too well the last couple of nights. Getting out of the car quietly, he walked over to the passenger side and opened Jenny's door, intent on carrying her inside so she could continue her nap-but she started stirring.

"Jethro," she mumbled, opening her eyes blearily.

"We're here now. I was going to let you continue your nap, after I got you inside."

"I'm awake, just give me a minute."

"Did you have a good nap?" he asked teasingly, having heard her mumble his name a few times, but didn't hear anything else after that.

With a coy smile, Jenny stepped out of the car and called over her shoulder, "Wouldn't you like to know?"

"You're killin' me Jen."

"So this is where you grew up?"

"Yeah, till the day I left for the Marines," he replied, knocking on the front door lightly, before opening it and letting him and Jenny inside.

"It's a cute little place," she said, looking around the living room-before adding teasingly, "Obviously your dad has more decorative taste than you do."

"Haha," he chuckled dryly. "Come on, let's put our stuff upstairs. Dad is probably still at the store, since he hasn't come in here to try and charm you yet."

Jenny looked around at the pictures Jackson had hanging on the wall. She stopped in front of one of a young Gibbs with an attractive woman, both of them smiling at the camera. Waiting till he came back out of the bedroom, she turned around and looked at him and asked, "Is that your mom?"

"Yeah."

"She was pretty," she said, wrapping her arms around his waist. "How come you never talk about her? You've talked about Shannon and Kelly more than you've ever mentioned your mom."

"Same reason you don't talk about your mom, Jen."

"Okay, I'm sorry," she replied, placing a soft kiss on his neck. "What do you think your dad's going to say about the baby?"

"He'll be over the moon," he said, hugging her to him tightly. "He loves kids like I do."

"You think he's got something to eat?"

"You're cute," he chuckled, kissing her lips softly before heading back downstairs to find her something to eat.

****NCIS****

A few hours later, Jenny and Gibbs were relaxing on Jackson's couch-talking about nothing, when the elder Gibbs made his way inside.

"Leroy! Jenny! Glad you could finally make it up here," Jackson said, walking into the living room and hugging his son and hopefully future daughter-in-law. "How is everyone doing since the bombing?"

"They're slowly healing," Jenny replied, looking over at him. "Doctors think Ducky should be able to go home in about a month; he'll just need a nurse staying with him for the first few weeks."

"That's good."

"Yeah it is," Gibbs said, wrapping an arm around Jenny. "Listen Dad, we've got some news for you."

"You kids are finally getting married?"

"Yeah, no Dad, we are not getting married," Gibbs replied, looking a little flustered-while Jenny seemed to be in complete shock at his original answer.

"Then what is it?"

"Jenny's pregnant."

"Son, that's great! Congratulations," Jackson said, hugging them both.

****NCIS****

After sitting around and discussing the baby for a while, Jackson offered to go make dinner for them. While they were waiting for it to finish, Gibbs and Jenny sat in the living room talking, both feeling content with their arms around each other.

"Are you still going to have the team over for dinner when we get home and tell them about the baby?" Jenny asked, tracing an invisible pattern on his hand.

"Yeah, we'll finish getting you moved in, then have them over the next night."

"I can't believe so much has happened in the short five months we've been together," she said, feeling herself starting to relax as he ran his fingers through her hair. "Do you really think the team will be shocked that we're together?"

"No, I'm sure DiNozzo has had bets about this with Abby for years."

"This is true. Those two have always thought something was up, ever since I became director, when they found out we were in Paris together," she laughed, remembering a time when she'd caught Abby trying to dig into her personnel file to find out what their undercover op in Paris had actually been.

"Dinner's ready kids!" Jackson called from the kitchen, making Gibbs shake his head lightly at the endearment.

"This all looks delicious, Jack," Jenny said, as Gibbs pulled out her chair for her.

"Well, you guys dig in," Jackson said, once everyone was situated and had food on their plates.

"So what was Jethro like as a child, Jack?" Jenny asked, a teasing smirk crossing her face as she looked over at Gibbs.

"He was a good kid, got into some scraps along the way, mostly in his teenage years," he laughed, seeing the look his son was shooting at the giggling red-head.

"Did you ever catch him trying to sneak girls home?" she teased, knowing she was driving Gibbs nuts.

"No, believe it or not he never tried that, unless he did and I just didn't catch him."

"Did he try and build a boat in your basement?"

"No, he spent a lot of his time trying to rebuild that Hemi he has."

"I'd love to say I'm shocked, but I'm really not," she laughed, having seen the boats he had built.

"Okay, enough talking about me," Gibbs interrupted, before his dad could say anything else.

****NCIS****

The next morning, Jackson left to go tend to the store, leaving Jenny and Gibbs at his house.

"So what do you want to do today?" Jenny asked, as they were lying around in bed, neither one wanting to get up quite yet.

"This is pretty nice."

"Jethro, be serious," she said, rolling her eyes a bit. "You don't know how to relax, let alone just lay around in bed all day."

"I do when I have a beautiful woman to share it with."

"Now you're just being a kiss ass."

Latching his hands onto her sides, Gibbs started a tickle war on her. "Jethro!" she laughed, trying to wiggle away from his tickling fingers, causing them to end up in a tangled mess on his bed, his body perched precariously atop hers.

"Yeah, I can definitely think of things to do inside today," he whispered, moving his hands and resting them beside her head, using his forearms to keep him from crushing her and the baby with his weight.

"Hmm, sounds like a lot of fun to me too," she whispered, licking her lower lip teasingly, knowing how to drive him crazy with lust.

"Good, cause we have all day," he replied, before crushing his lips against hers in a needy frenzy. This was the first time they would be intimate with each other since the bombing, not for lack of want on their parts, but Gibbs had wanted to make sure she had healed properly from her surgeries. He didn't want to cause her pain.

"Mmm, Jethro," she moaned, as she started clawing at his shirt, wanting to rid him of the offending garment.

"Don't say nothing Jen," he whispered, kissing the spot just behind her ear that always made her shiver. "Just feel."

****NCIS****

After spending the morning and better part of the afternoon making love, they decided to get up and get dinner started for when Jackson got home, so he wouldn't have to worry about it after working all day.

"Are you going to make all the furniture for the baby?" Jenny asked, as she finished cutting up the tomatoes for the salad.

"I was planning on it."

"Good, cause I was literally going to beg you. I mean, I know you said you'd do the crib and rocker-would you do the dresser too?"

"Now that may cost you," he chuckled softly, checking on the spaghetti noodles he had cooking.

"Just add it to my tab."

"At this rate, you will owe me for the rest of your life."

"Okay, well I don't plan on going anywhere, ever again," she said, smiling at him lovingly. "Would you want to find out what we're having, now? I kinda want to know how to decorate the nursery."

"Sure, cause I really don't want to have you not know, then it drive you crazy till he or she is born."

After getting everything ready for dinner, Gibbs and Jenny sat in the living room waiting for Jackson to arrive home as they discussed their future and everything it was bringing.

"Do you have any names picked out yet?" Jenny asked, laying her head against his shoulder.

"Honestly, I've not even thought about it yet," he replied, running his fingers through her hair lazily. "Don't we have like five and a half more months to decide?"

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, you are a strange man."

"Why?" he asked, looking at her in amusement.

"You usually have things planned out how you want it to go, but when it comes to picking out names-you're willing to let it go for the next five and a half months."

"Okay, so did you bring that baby name book with you?"

"Yes, it's upstairs in my bag."

"I'll go get it," he replied, releasing the hold he had on her.

"Okay, well hurry back. I like using you as a pillow."

After he had come back with the book, Jenny got up and grabbed a notepad from Jackson's desk, so they could settle in making a list of the names they liked.

"Now I think we should each write down five girl and five boy names, then we can narrow it down from there," she said, laying the book down in between them, before handing Gibbs her glasses, not even bothering to look and see the scowling expression on his face. "You can't see Jethro, so I'm being nice and letting you use my glasses, since I already have an idea on the names I like."

"How noble of you," he muttered dryly, making her smirk a bit in amusement.

Spending close to an hour writing down names, Jenny put her pen down, before trying to take a peek at Gibbs list. "I'm almost finished," he grumbled, pulling his list away from her prying eyes.

"Alright, I'm going to go get something to drink. Do you want anything?"

"Yeah, get me another coffee," he said, as he finished writing out his list.

Going into the kitchen, Jenny grabbed herself a bottle of water, before pouring Gibbs another cup of coffee. Looking out the window, Jenny let herself get lost in thoughts of the future, her and Gibbs coming up to Stillwater in the summer with the baby, and watching him or her running around in the backyard, picking flowers out of Jackson's flower bed. She was so lost in her thoughts; she didn't hear Gibbs sneak in behind her.

"Jen," he said softly, not wanting to startle her.

"Sorry, I got to looking outside and my thoughts just went toward coming up here for visits with the baby in a few years. Watching them play and getting your dad to tell them stories."

"Yeah, it's a nice thought, isn't it?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her waist loosely.

"I can't wait for it," she replied, laying back against his chest, resting her arms on top of his. "Are you done with your list now?"

"Uh huh. Let's go take a look at them."

Grabbing his coffee in one hand, and taking Jenny's in the other, the couple walked back into the living room. "Do you want me to read mine first?" Jenny asked, sitting back down on the couch, once again using Gibbs as her personal pillow.

"Sure, if you want to."

"Okay, for girls I like; Lilliana, Sophia, Isabella, Brooklyn and Ella. For boys I like; Ayden, Lucas, Zachary, Tristan and Brayden."

"Mine are, for girls; Sophia, Savannah, Peyton, Alexandra and Aubree. Boys; Jaden, Nicholas, Taylor, Blake and Marcus," Gibbs said, making Jenny smirk a bit.

"Okay, so we both like Sophia for a little girl," she said, making a note on her piece of paper. "What about for a boy? We both have very different names."

"Well, let's think on it for awhile. We've already picked out names we like, we don't have to be in a rush to name the baby now," he suggested, trying to be realistic about it. "We'll keep the lists with us, and maybe once we find out if it's a boy or girl, we'll go over it more then."

"Sounds like a good deal to me."

"Do you know how you want to decorate the nursery?" He asked, running his hand up and down her back gently.

"Well, I do know I want the furniture a dark brown," she started, and Gibbs couldn't help but notice the content smile that crossed his face as she described in full detail how she saw the nursery looking like. "If we have a little girl, I want something light for the walls. I don't want to do the 'everything must be pink'; I think it's too overdone. Then maybe have some pictures of those Anne Geddes babies. I also want to order this plaque I saw online, we can have it say whatever we want, in twenty characters."

"Sounds easy enough to do," Gibbs said, knowing Jenny wouldn't want to go overboard on the nursery. "What about if we have a boy?"

"I want a nautical themed nursery," she answered simply, trying not to look at him and smirk. "What with his daddy loving boats and all."

"You better be glad you're you and not DiNozzo."

Laughing at his reaction, she couldn't help but ask. "Why?"

"Cause I'd be smacking the back of your head now."

"Jethro, you never did that when I was your probie," she laughed, before continuing. "I know how to play you basically. I know how to push your buttons, how to get you all hot and bothered one second, then irritated as hell at me the next."

"Which you do both very well."

"I know."

After talking for another hour, Jenny felt herself starting to fall asleep. Of course listening to Gibbs heartbeat, and his fingers running gently through her long locks, was relaxing her beyond measure. Both of them were feeling far more relaxed than either had in several years. For Jenny it was having the knowledge that once they got back to DC, she would be turning in her resignation to Sec-Nav, not willing to do anything that would put her baby's life in jeopardy or that would take her away from Gibbs again. They'd spent twelve of the longest years of her life apart, and she wasn't going to let that happen again.


	10. Problems at Home

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: I am so sorry about the long delay in updating. My other Jibbs fic, the muses took over and didn't want to let go on some ideas coming up. Luckily I think the muses are returning so I can write the next few chapters.

****NCIS****

After spending the weekend in Stillwater, Gibbs and Jenny were on their way back home. "Can you stop at a gas station and get me some beef jerky?" Jenny asked, looking over at Gibbs with a cute pout.

"Sure, do you want anything else?" he asked, looking over at her-shaking his head at her pout.

"Well, since I can't have coffee, just get me a water."

"Do you want something else to eat besides beef jerky?"

Thinking over her options for a minute, she nodded. "Get me some cheddar and sour cream Ruffles and a big bag of Skittles."

"You got some weird cravings Jen," he chuckled lightly, as he got off at an exit and pulled into a gas station nearby.

"Well, I figured you could get me stocked up for a little while. I'm not necessarily eating them all now."

"Okay," he agreed, taking off his seatbelt and getting ready to get out. "Do you want me to get you some juice, too?"

"Sure, get me a grape Gatorade and a blueberry-pomegranate Gatorade."

"All right, I'll be right back."

Once Gibbs got Jenny's snacks and a few things for himself, he went back out to the car and almost dropped the stuff in a panic when he didn't see Jenny sitting in the passenger seat where he'd left her. "Jen!" he hollered, his eyes scanning the area around him. Hearing what sounded like someone retching around the side of the building, Gibbs put the snacks and drinks into the car and walked around there. "Honey, are you okay?"

"Yeah, just someone started lighting up a cigarette as soon as they walked out of the station, and the smell made me nauseous," she replied, wiping her mouth off with the back of her hand. "I didn't mean to scare you."

"It's all right," he replied, rubbing her back gently. "Are you okay now? Do you need to throw up again?"

"I'm okay," she said, smiling up at him-her right eye twitching just a bit. "Could you just bring the car over here so I can get in? I'm afraid to walk back over where it is, in case the smell is still lingering."

"No problem."

Once he had left to get the car, Jenny leaned against the side of the building-hoping to keep the rest of her breakfast down since they had a long drive ahead of them. "Okay, kiddo, you need to cooperate with Mama today. Daddy will drive me nuts if he thinks that I'm still sick."

****NCIS****

After getting back home, Gibbs placed a phone call to the team and told them to come over for dinner the next night-not giving Tony any more information than that.

"Jethro, I'm going to go take a nap," she said, looking over at him a little bleary eyed as he was heading toward the kitchen to get some coffee.

"Okay, well I'm going to go downstairs and start working on the crib. Do you think you'll feel like having dinner tonight?"

"I don't know, we'll see," she replied, going over and kissing him softly. "Love you."

"That'll be the day," he replied with a smirk, as he leaned in and kissed her softly again. "Love you, too."

Going upstairs, Jenny changed into her favorite pair of yoga pants, and one of Gibbs' old NIS t-shirts. Pulling her hair up into a twisted ponytail, she grabbed his pillow and hugged it to her, letting the sawdust and bourbon scent lull her to sleep.

As soon as Gibbs started measuring out the pieces of wood he needed, his phone started to ring. Worried that it might be Jenny, he grabbed it and looked at the caller ID- 'McGee calling.' "Yeah McGee," he said, answering it before it went over to voicemail.

"Boss, could I come over and talk to you about something?"

"Sure, is everything okay?"

"I want to talk to you about Abby," he said, hoping that the now subdued Goth didn't overhear him. "Well, Tony and I do. Abby's going to take Ziva to her PT appointment today, so we were going to stop by if that's okay."

"Sure, I'll see you when you get here," he replied, hanging up the phone.

_*Jenny's dream*_

"_Jethro!" Jenny exclaimed, as she was running away from him in their Paris safe house. He was currently trying to get her back for 'accidentally' bumping him into their walk-in shower with his clothes on. _

"_Oh no, Jen, you deserve this payback," he said, reaching out and grabbing her around her waist, pulling her back against his wet chest. _

"_I'm sorry, it was completely an accident," she giggled, a sound that Gibbs found himself loving more every time he heard it. "I lost my balance and accidentally bumped into you." _

"_Yeah, sure," he snorted, carrying her back up the stairs to the bathroom. "I think you should get the same experience I had." _

"_You wouldn't," she challenged, looking into his eyes. _

"_Wouldn't I?"_

"_Just realize that if I go, I'm pulling you back in with me," she grumbled, hooking her fingers through the belt loops on his jeans._

"_Hmm, doesn't sound like a bad idea," he said, as he walked into the shower with her, putting her under the spray as he reached behind her and turned the water back on. _

"_Jethro!" she exclaimed, pushing her now soaked hair from her face. _

"_Yeah, this is definitely better," he mumbled, backing her up against the wall and claiming her mouth with his._

_*end dream*_

Gibbs had gone upstairs after getting the phone call from McGee. He didn't want them going downstairs and seeing the plans he'd made for the crib. They weren't going to tell anyone till the next night, when they were over for dinner. Walking upstairs to their bedroom, he smiled lightly seeing Jenny curled up in the bed, holding onto his pillow. Making sure she was okay, he kissed her forehead gently before walking back downstairs. He had just entered the kitchen to grab a beer when Tony and McGee walked in.

"Hey boss," Tony said, going over to the fridge and getting him and McGee beers as well. "How's Jenny doing?"

"She's napping right now. Tried doing too much over the weekend," Gibbs replied, as they went into the living room and sat down. "Is Ziver's therapy on schedule?"

"Yeah, she said the doctor told her that she should be able to walk without her crutches soon," Tony replied, although he was going to secretly try and find out from the doctor if this was in fact true. Ziva was ready to break the crutches over her therapist's head, so he wasn't too sure if she was just saying it or not.

"How are you, McGee?"

"I've still got some headaches, but they're nothing too horrible," the young agent replied. "I go back for my, hopefully, final skin graft in a couple weeks."

"So why are you guys all worried about Abby?" Gibbs questioned, hating that they'd waited till now to say anything to him.

"She's not sleeping boss," McGee started, looking down at his shaking hands. "She's not even drinking her ten a day Caf-Pows. I've tried to get her to talk about it, but anytime I ask, she just clams up and says she's fine."

"Yeah, it's like the bombing may not have injured her too bad physically, but mentally she's been damaged," Tony said, worried about the woman he thought of as a little sister. "She just focuses all her attention on helping McGee get better, or taking Ziva to her therapy appointments when I can't."

"One night we stayed up watching movies, and she fell asleep at some point during "Groundhog Day." She woke up towards the end screaming. I know she's having nightmares about the bombing, but she won't tell any of us what they're about," McGee informed him, hoping that Gibbs could get Abby to talk about what happened before it crippled her in more ways than one.

"All right, when you guys come over tomorrow for dinner, I'll pull her off to the side and talk to her then," Gibbs offered, knowing that getting Abby to talk about her feelings may not be as easy as they were hoping for.

****NCIS****

A few hours later, Jenny woke up from her nap. Getting out of bed, she went downstairs and found Gibbs working in the basement again on the crib. "Hey," she mumbled, her voice still laden with sleep.

"Did you have a good nap?" he asked, going over and hugging her to him.

"Yeah, dreamt about our time in Paris. That day I accidentally bumped you into the shower, you chased me all around the house," she replied with a smile. He pulled her over to the table with him to help sand down the bars for the crib.

"Accident my ass," he mumbled playfully, nipping her earlobe lightly with his teeth. "McGee and DiNozzo stopped by; they're worried about Abby."

"What's the matter with her?" she asked, stopping the sanding and looking up at him.

"She's apparently having nightmares and not sleeping at all hardly," he replied. "It's like the bombing has changed her personality completely. She's not drinking Caf-Pows even."

"Are you going to talk to her tomorrow?"

"Yeah, figure I'll grab her before we tell everyone the news."

"Sounds good to me. Maybe call McGee in the morning and have them come before the others. That way she won't feel like we're all ganging up on her."

"Okay, I'll do that," he said, letting his hand rest on her slightly swollen stomach.

****NCIS****

After spending a few hours working in the basement, Gibbs and Jenny were upstairs lying on the couch, his fingers running absently through her hair. They hadn't said much to each other, but both were content just holding each other close. Jenny was thinking about what the next few days were going to have in store for them. She still wasn't cleared to go back to work yet, and the FBI had caught up with Harper Dearing, leaving Gibbs and his team to sit and wait idly until a new building was found to place them in. She was also thinking about her impending conversation with Sec-Nav to give him her resignation. She wanted to do what was best for their baby, but she also didn't think she could just become a stay at home mom. Sitting up slightly, she pulled away from the protective hold Gibbs had on her. "Jethro, I need to ask you something, and I want you to be completely honest with me."

"Okay."

"Should I resign from the director's position?" she asked, knowing they'd discussed already how he'd feel, but she was still uncertain.

"Jen, I just want you to be happy," he replied, grabbing her hand in his. "If you don't think you'll be happy being a stay-at-home mom, then don't resign. I don't want to tell you to do something, then you do it and resent me later."

"Well, you're no help," she mumbled, moving back to lie against his side again. "I don't want the baby to feel like I don't want to be there with them, if I choose to stay the director."

"Jen, parents work," he said bluntly, making her swat him in the stomach. "Our baby wouldn't know any different if you went back to work. They would just see it as normal life."

"I guess you're right."

"Good. Now what do you want for dinner?" he asked, kissing the top of her head. "Want me to grill you up some chicken, and you can make a salad?"

"Yeah, that actually sounds pretty good," she replied, her stomach not as queasy as it had been earlier after the cigarette smoke made her sick.

After Gibbs went out into the backyard to fire up the grill, Jenny stood up and went out into the kitchen to get the stuff ready to make the salad-when everything around her went black.


	11. Finding Out

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

****Previously on NCIS****

After Gibbs went out into the backyard to fire up the grill, Jenny stood up and went into the kitchen to get the stuff ready to make the salad-when everything around her went black.

****NCIS****

When Gibbs walked back into the kitchen to take the chicken out to the grill, he was unprepared to see Jenny laying-pale and lifeless on the floor. "Jen!" he yelled, running over to kneel beside her head. "Wake up." Not getting a response, he pulled his phone from his pocket and dialed 9-1-1. After informing the dispatch woman that Jenny was almost fifteen weeks pregnant, and had been in the bombing at the yard, she promised that the medics were getting to his house as quickly as possible.

Before they arrived, Jenny moaned softly-much to Gibbs' relief. "What happened?" she asked softly. She tried to sit up, but she was being held down by Gibbs' hand on her shoulder.

"Jen, you fainted or something," he said, looking at her worriedly. "We're going to the hospital to get you and the baby checked out."

"Jethro, I'm okay."

"I'm not arguing about this with you Jenny," his voice firm with conviction.

"Fine," she mumbled, putting her hand on her head. "Can you at least help me sit up? This floor isn't THAT comfortable to lay on-well when I'm not doing something productive that is."

"Jen, you're incorrigible," he laughed, helping her to sit up. He let her lay her head against his chest. They sat there for another couple minutes, when the EMTs knocked on the door. "Come in!"

After talking to the EMTs and getting Jenny loaded onto the stretcher, Gibbs walked out to the ambulance with them. "I'll meet you at the hospital, Jen."

"All right," she replied, looking more than a little afraid. Sure, she knew she felt okay, but the thought of losing their baby after everything they'd endured so far-terrified her.

****NCIS****

Once Gibbs arrived at the hospital, he went to the nurses' desk at the ER and asked where Jenny was.

"Straight back through this door, second room on your left," the nurse said, looking up Jenny's information on the computer.

Mumbling something that could only be figured as thanks, he strode back to the room just as the nurse had finished hooking Jenny up to an IV.

"Jethro, before you say it, I'm fine," she stated adamantly, not wanting to let her fear show to him. "The doctor thinks I may have just gotten a little dehydrated, since I'd been sick on the drive home today."

"Yeah, well I'll feel better when I hear that myself."

"You don't trust me?"

"I trust you Jen, but you fainted in our kitchen. Sorry for wanting to hear it from a doctor that you being dehydrated was the cause."

"I am not one of your agents, Jethro. You can't stand there and badger me like that."

"No, you're not one of my agents, Jen," he said, his look was something she'd not seen in a long time-maybe since Paris. "You are the woman I love, the mother of my child, the one that I want to spend the rest of my life with. Call me crazy for wanting to make sure that you and OUR child are safe!"

"I'm just telling you what the doctor has said," she whispered softly, looking down at her shaking hands. "They're going to do some blood work and other tests just to be safe, but that all indications point to dehydration."

"Okay," he said softly, once he started to calm down. He felt like an ass for all but screaming at her. Taking one of her shaking hands in his, he sat down beside her on the bed. "Were you feeling bad at all-before I went outside to start the grill?"

"Honestly, no. I felt fine. I still felt a little queasy, but I figured it was because I was hungry."

Hugging her to him gently, he placed a soft kiss on top of her head-before nodding lightly. "Okay, well we'll wait to see what the doctor says before we make any rash decisions about anything."

"I hate hospitals," Jenny sighed, curling up beside Gibbs as much as she could. "I've spent enough time in them to last me for the rest of my life."

"Yeah, I bet you do," he mumbled, thinking back to when she'd been shot in the desert and spent two months in the hospital recovering from that accident. "Why didn't we start dating again after the shooting?"

"You really want to get into this now?" she asked, looking up at him.

"I wouldn't have asked if-" he started, when she cut him off.

"Well, you were a pompous angry asshole who was pissed because of the Grenouille mission," she started, staring straight ahead at the curtain closing off her little 'room.' "Then when you found out that I never killed Svetlana in Paris, that was the final nail in the coffin-so to speak. Face it, Jethro. Things weren't cordial between us a long time before my going to California. Even if we had been together then, there is no way we would have survived my vendetta toward the Frog or what you considered my failure from Paris."

"Let's not do this right now Jen," he mumbled, not wanting to stress her out or cause something to happen to their baby.

"Fine."

They sat in silence for almost a half an hour, before the doctor came back in. "Ms. Shepard, sorry to keep you waiting. You were dehydrated, but your blood-work indicates you are slightly anemic."

"Okay, so how can I fix that?" she asked, unconsciously squeezing Gibbs hand a little tighter when the doctor said that.

"You'll just need to take some iron supplement pills. I will write you a prescription, and they will not cause any harm to the baby," the doctor said, typing some things into the computer. "You will need to let your OB know about this fainting incident, so she can monitor your iron levels the remainder of the pregnancy. I don't see any reason to keep you overnight, but if you continue feeling lightheaded, do not hesitate to come back in here."

"All right, and the baby is okay?"

"Yes, we'll have a nurse come in with the ultrasound machine and we'll do a quick scan."

After the doctor finished filling out the prescription for Jenny, one of the nurses who hooked up her IV wheeled in the ultrasound machine. "I'm relieved the baby's going to be okay," Jenny said, rubbing her thumb lightly against the top of his hand. "I'm just ready to go home and get some sleep."

"We will, don't worry," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"Okay, Ms. Shepard and Mr. Gibbs, let's get a look at your baby, shall we?" asked the doctor, sitting down on the stool. The nurse put the gel on Jenny's stomach. Moving the little wand across her stomach, the doctor picked up the baby's heartbeat, which was going strong. "Do you guys know the sex yet?"

"No, we were going to try and find out at my next appointment," Jenny replied, tears gathering in her eyes at the sound of her baby's heartbeat.

"Would you like to know now?" he asked, not wanting to spoil it if they wanted to wait till her appointment.

"Yes," she said, not giving Gibbs a chance to even think of a different answer.

"Well, this strong heartbeat belongs to a very healthy looking baby girl."

Both Jenny and Gibbs were smiling at the news. Although Jenny had tears streaming down her face, she insisted they were happy tears. She was worried about Gibbs though. Sure, he had said he'd be okay with a little girl, but that was just when he found out she was pregnant. Now they were being told the baby was in fact a little girl. She couldn't help but worry that maybe he was just saying he was fine with it, but in reality was upset. If she had been able to think rationally, she'd know that he never said anything he didn't mean, but for the next five or so months she wasn't going to be rational.

"You get your little ballerina Jen," Gibbs said softly, leaning in and kissing her gently.

"You sure you're okay with us having a little girl?" she questioned, almost timidly. There was a small part of her that was worried he wouldn't be happy with a daughter.

"Yes, I told you this already. It doesn't make me miss Kelly less, but I am happy with a daughter," he said, making her look him in the eye. "I love you, and I love our little girl. No memory of Kelly or what I lost out on with her will change that. Being with you has shown me that I can hold onto the memories of Shannon and Kelly, that I don't need to feel like I'm betraying them because I have moved on with my life. You make me happy, Jen. You made me happy in Paris twelve years ago, you made me happy when you said you'd give us another chance."

"I don't think I've ever heard you say so much," she replied, tears falling rapidly at his sincere words. "I love you so much."

Before Gibbs could say anything more, the doctor broke up their little moment when he came back into the room. "Ms. Shepard, we are going to release you, but I want you to take it easy until you can get an appointment with your OB. You don't need to be on bed-rest but please do take it easy. No stress or lifting anything heavier than ten pounds right now."

"Thank you, doctor," she replied, as Gibbs shook his hand and helped Jenny up after the nurse took out her IV. "You haven't cancelled the cookout tomorrow with the team, have you?"

"No, did you want me to?"

"No, I want to see all of them," she replied, looking up at him. "Plus you need to talk to Abby, get her to tell you what's really bothering her. I know it's the bombing, but I don't want to see her let it destroy her."

"Okay, we'll have the cookout still," he replied, wrapping his arms around her in a hug. "I'll have McGee bring her over for breakfast; they can just stay all day then."

Taking the prescription for iron pills, as well as pictures from the ultrasound and a DVD, Jenny looked up at him with a smile. "Good, she needs to have her father figure there for her. You've focused too much on me lately; you need to focus on the kids now."

"Let's get out of here," he said, wrapping his arm around her and helping her out of the hospital and to his truck.

"Can you go someplace and get me some dinner?" she asked, once he was pulling out of the hospital lot.

"Sure, what do you want?"

"Just go get me a salad from somewhere," she replied, laying her head back against the seat.

"All right, just get some rest Jen," he said quietly, knowing she was exhausted. He decided to go home and fix her a small salad there for when she woke up. He started coming up with a few ideas of things to make to hang up in the nursery, things he knew he could surprise Jenny with. He could only hope that his conversation with Abby would go well in the morning, as well as telling the team that he and Jenny were together and having a baby.


	12. Telling the Team

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: I have decided to do some one shots that tie into this story. You won't have to read it to follow this story, but it will be in place of so many flashbacks. So if you want to see what happened during certain events, then you may want to read them. I also want to thank you all for getting me to 50 reviews! It means a lot to know that hard work is appreciated. For the most part updates to this will be done on Sundays and Accidentally in Love will be updated on Fridays.

****NCIS****

The next morning, Jenny woke to the smell of coffee brewing downstairs. Getting out of bed carefully, she made her way down and saw Gibbs standing by the stove, cooking eggs and bacon. "Well aren't you little Miss Suzy Homemaker?" she teased playfully, wrapping her arms around his waist and kissing in between his shoulder blades softly.

"Ha!" he laughed, as he turned to kiss her properly. "Abby and McGee will be here soon. They think that you're just staying here cause there isn't much for me to do at your house. When Ziva, Tony and Palmer get here, we'll tell them our news."

"Okay," she said, going over to the fridge to get a Vitamin water out. "I can't believe you couldn't just go and buy a cup of coffee. No, you had to fix coffee here in the house, knowing I can't drink any of-"

"Jen, it's decaf."

"Oh, well thank you."

Before he could reply, they heard McGee and Abby walking in. "Hey Gibbs. Hi Jenny," Abby said as she went over and hugged Gibbs tightly. She seemed almost afraid to let him go.

"Hey Abbs," he whispered, kissing the top of her head gently. "Want to go take a walk with me?"

"Sure," she replied, before going over to hug Jenny-albeit a lot softer than she had hugged Gibbs.

"Tim, there's some eggs and bacon on the stove. Regular coffee is in the percolator," Gibbs said, wrapping an arm around Abby's shoulders protectively.

"Thanks boss."

Walking toward the front door, Gibbs led Abby out and down the front walk. "So how are you feeling Abbs, really?"

"My ribs are pretty much healed," she replied softly, leaning against Gibbs side. "Doctor said I still need to take it easy for a couple more weeks-not lift anything too heavy."

"That's good," he said, as they walked further down his street. "How are you sleeping?"

"McGee tell you he thinks I'm not sleeping well?" she asked, almost angry at her friend's intrusion.

"Abby, don't lie to me," he said, hearing the tone in her voice. "We all care about you, and we want to see you get better."

"So what?" she asked, as they walked toward a park that was near his house. "I'm supposed to tell you about the stupid nightmares I have, and you'll just make them disappear? It doesn't work that way."

"No, but talking about them will help you. Keeping this stuff bottled up inside is what is tearing you apart."

"It's just dreams about that day, Gibbs. You running into the lab and shoving me down onto the ground," she replied, walking over toward the swings. "Tim and Tony are just making it a bigger deal than it really needs to be."

"We all just care about you," he said, sitting down beside her. "You can't keep torturing yourself like this. We're all okay, we're safe and things will start going back to normal soon."

"So I have nightmares, big deal," she sighed, kicking the ground with her shoe. "I know they'll go away eventually, but for right now I feel better going to sleep when someone else is awake."

"Have you slept at all today?"

"No," she admitted.

"Come on, we'll go back to the house. You can take a nap in the guest room. I'll wake you when Tony, Ziva and Palmer get here."

"Fine," she sighed, getting up from the swing. "How's Jenny doing, honestly Gibbs?"

"She's fine," he replied, wrapping an arm around her again-almost in a protective manner. "The doctors still want her to take it easy for a little while; she doesn't want to. So between the two of you, I've got my work cut out for me."

"Have you seen Ducky lately?"

"Went and saw him last week, before I went up to Stillwater," he said, intentionally leaving out that Jenny had gone with him. He didn't want Abby to figure out that they were together.

"How is Jack doing?" she asked, looking up at him a bit.

"He's fine; wants to come down and see everyone soon," he replied. He knew that his main reason would be to see the baby; but again Abby didn't know. Sighing mentally, he was glad that they were telling all of them that day-he didn't know how much longer he could keep it a secret. For the first time since Shannon and Kelly, or since he and Jenny first fell in love in Paris years before, Gibbs was finally happy. He didn't know why he was having a hard time keeping the baby or his relationship with Jenny a secret. He's had tons of secrets in his life; but this was one he just couldn't wait to share with his 'kids.'

****NCIS****

After Gibbs and Abby got back to the house, he helped her upstairs to the guest room and got her situated before walking back down to the kitchen where Jenny and McGee were talking over coffee.

"She insists that she's fine-that the dreams will go away soon," Gibbs said, as he knew what the first question from McGee was going to be. "I didn't want to push her too hard at the park. All that would do is just shut her down, then she wouldn't talk to anyone."

"I hate seeing her suffer like this, boss."

"Me too, McGee, but if we keep pushing her, she'll close herself off."

"Let's just give her some time," Jenny said, afraid that he would unintentionally bite McGee's head off if he kept pressing on about her. "This has been a lot for all of us to deal with. If she's not better by the end of the month, we can talk about it more then."

"Okay," McGee sighed, nodding his head lightly.

****NCIS****

"Zee-vah!" Tony yelled, looking at his watch later that afternoon. She had been staying at his apartment since his building had an elevator. Of course, this meant that if she wasn't on time, then neither was he. "Come on, we're going to be late for the barbeque."

"Tony, stop your dogger walling," she said, walking into the room with the help of her crutches.

"It's caterwauling."

"I knew there was an animal in there somewhere."

Before he could reply, there was a soft knock on his door. "Great, now we're really going to be late," he mumbled, as he started sliding his wallet and keys into his pocket. Opening the door, he was startled to see a young woman in her early twenties standing on his doorstep. "Can I help you?"

"You're Tony DiNozzo Jr. right?" she asked, fidgeting with her purse strap.

"Yeah."

Sticking her hand out to his to shake, she looked up at his face and announced, "My name is Caterina DiNozzo. My mom is Emily Proctor. She was married to Anthony DiNozzo Sr."

"So that makes you my little sister," he said, letting out a small sigh of relief when he found out she wasn't his daughter.

"Yes, I was hoping I could get to know you," she said, and once he got a good look at her, he could see the slight resemblance to the DiNozzo family. "I mean, it's always just been my mom and I which has been great, but I want to know my brother."

"We're getting ready to head over to a cookout. I'm sure you'd be more than welcomed to-" he started, when she interrupted him.

"It's okay Tony, I can come back later. I'll give you my number, and you can call me when it's a good time."

He nodded. "I'll give you a call tonight when we get back, Caterina."

"You can call me Cat; it's what my mom and friends call me," she said, handing him a folded piece of paper with her number on it.

"Sounds good, Cat. I'll talk to you later."

Ziva had been leaning against the couch the whole time, looking about as shocked as Tony. "Did your father ever tell you that he had a daughter with this Emily person?"

"No, he has never mentioned anything. Of course if I call and ask him, he'll make it seem like he told me and I just somehow forgot."

"Come on, we need to get over to Gibbs' house. You can call your father later to find out why he kept it from you."

****NCIS****

After everyone was gathered, Gibbs pulled them into the living room, knowing that Ziva and McGee still weren't sturdy to stand for long periods of time. "I have something I need to tell everyone."

"Are you moving to Mexico again?" Abby asked, looking at him worriedly.

"No, I'm not moving to Mexico."

"You're retiring and staying home to build another boat?" Tony asked, smirking at him a bit.

"Guys!" Gibbs yelled lightly, as they were just making preposterous guesses. "The director and I are dating."

"Yay! Mommy and Daddy are finally together," Abby cheered, bouncing over to hug Gibbs.

"Thanks Abbs," he chuckled, before making the second part of the announcement. "Jenny is also three and a half months pregnant."

After a chorus of congratulations and hugs, Jenny pulled Ziva and Abby off to the side to talk with them alone. "How would you girls like to go shopping with me soon?" she asked, looking at them questioningly.

"Sounds fun," Abby replied, her pigtails bouncing in excitement. "Do you know what you're having yet?"

"We found out last night we're having a little girl," she replied, unconsciously resting a hand on her stomach. "I had to go to the ER. Jethro came in from going to put chicken on the grill, and I had fainted in the kitchen."

"Are you okay now, Jenny?" Ziva questioned, wondering why they hadn't cancelled the cookout.

"I'm fine. I'd been sick on the way home from Stillwater yesterday, so I hadn't been able to get any fluids down-which caused dehydration. They'd also discovered I'm slightly anemic, so as a precaution they did an ultrasound to check the baby."

"Everything looked okay?" Abby asked, looking as though any sanity she may have had left weighed on her response.

"Everything's fine Abby," she said, placing a reassuring hand on the young woman's shoulder. "I have to make an appointment this week with my OB, and I will have them double check the baby's sex before I go and buy girl stuff for the nursery."

"Why?" Ziva asked, as it seemed she and Abby were taking turns with the questions.

"Well, most of the time they like to wait till you're about twenty weeks or so, before they tell you-I'm right at fifteen and a half weeks. I just want to make sure the ER doc had it right."

"So will you guys live here or in Georgetown?" Abby asked.

"We've moved all my stuff here," she replied, smiling at Abby gently. "Even though I love my Brownstone, it's not a great place to raise a baby. I mean, eventually we might buy a new place, I don't know. I want something small but has that lived-in feel."

"Plus where would Gibbs build his boat in Georgetown?" Ziva asked teasingly, knowing that her boss enjoyed the solitude that his basement brought.

"Good point," Abby replied, before turning a quizzical eye at Jenny. "So now that you and Gibbs are dating, can you tell us if you guys were together in Paris?"

"Well, what did you find out when you looked in my personnel file about my Paris mission?"

"You and Gibbs were a married couple," she mumbled, knowing that she had been busted.

"So what do you think happened in Paris?"

"Why did you guys end it?" Abby asked as Ziva already knew since Jenny had gone undercover with Ziva in Cairo not long after-she just wasn't told that it was Gibbs, though she had her suspicions.

"I was foolish," she answered honestly. "I thought I couldn't have a husband or family while trying to make the most of my career."

"What do you think now?"

"Now-now I know that I can have it all. The director's position was my professional dream. I have been living it for the past seven years. I want to focus on my personal dreams; you know the things that will be there for you when your career is over. Having a family with Jethro watching our daughter grow and thrive in this crazy world-that is what makes me happy now."

"Love you too, Jen," Gibbs said, walking through the kitchen and out the backdoor.

"There's no greater feeling in the world," she said, looking at the two younger women-a content smile crossing her face.


	13. Conversations and Healing

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own unfortunately. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

****NCIS****

"So, are you going to call your sister today?" Ziva asked, walking into Tony's kitchen a couple days later.

"I guess I probably should, huh?"

"Well, it would be nice," she said, rolling her eyes at him. "I mean, she did come all this way, from wherever-she wants to get to know you."

"What do I know about being someone's older brother?" he questioned, looking at her intently. "I mean, we come from two totally different worlds. What could we possibly have in common?"

"That is why you call her and ask her to meet you here or someplace for lunch."

"Fine, I'll call her."

"I will give you some privacy," she said, as she got up from the kitchen chair and hobbled into the living room.

Grabbing his phone off the counter, he dialed the number on the folded up piece of paper slowly. What could he possibly say to her? He'd all but ignored any thought of her since she had shown up. He could only hope and pray that she wouldn't ask why their father was such a louse of a human being; because he had no real answer for her.

"Hello," Caterina answered, shaking him clear from his thoughts.

"Um Caterina, this is Tony," he said, as he leaned back against the counter top. "I was wondering if you would like to meet for lunch today?"

"Sure, would 1:00 be okay? I need to find a babysitter for my son, Cooper."

"You have a son?" he asked, unable to hide the shock from his voice.

"Yeah, he was with my mom the other day when I stopped by your apartment," she said, picking up the fussy fourteen month old. "She had to go back to California yesterday, so-"

"Bring him with you," he said, before he even realized what it was he suggested.

"Are you sure?"

"Come on, I want to get to know my nephew and my little sister."

"Okay, well where do you want to meet at?"

After getting the restaurant and time set, Tony hung up the phone and walked back into his living room. "My little sister has a kid," he mumbled, sitting down in his big, black leather, overstuffed 'movie chair' that was his personal favorite-that not even Ziva could sit in.

"She did not have a kid two days ago," Ziva said, looking at him strangely.

"Her mom was apparently with him, but she had to go back out to California for something. I'm meeting her and my nephew over at that diner Gibbs goes to at one."

"Well, just get to know her, Tony. I mean, she could just want her son to know his family. You can be good with kids if you want to be, I cannot imagine he is too old."

"He was whining in the background, so maybe around a year or a little over."

"There you go; you can not do too bad meeting an infant. He should not get irritated with you, since he can not talk back."

"Very funny, sweet cheeks.

"Was not making a joke, my little hairy butt."

****NCIS****

Jenny was upstairs that morning, looking around in the other spare room Gibbs had said they'd use as a nursery. Knowing the other one was the way Kelly had left it when they'd moved to Camp Pendleton, Jenny had no qualms about leaving the room intact.

After surviving the explosion at NCIS, as well as her recent bout of dehydration and anemia, Jenny was grateful that their baby was safe and healthy so far. She couldn't even begin to imagine losing a child. Things were finally clear to her as to WHY Gibbs had been so emphatic about hearing from the doctor that the baby was fine. Losing his first little girl, some twenty years earlier, had messed him up for a long time. She knew how much he loved her; but she didn't think that love was enough to pull him through losing another child.

Walking across the hall to Kelly's old room, Jenny crept in there quietly. She didn't know how Gibbs would react to her being in there-nor did she want to endure his anger if he caught her. She felt as though she needed to let Kelly know that this new baby would not replace her memory with her dad. Remembering a conversation she and Gibbs had not too long after they'd gotten back together made her smile as she thought of the little sister Kelly would finally get.

_*Flashback*_

"_How come you and Shannon didn't have more kids?" Jenny asked as they were talking down in the basement. He was working on his boat while she read over some case files that needed sign-off._

"_Kelly always wanted a little sister," he replied, placing the sander down on the table. "We'd talked about waiting till I was done with my tour in the Corps. Even though Kelly was pretty self sufficient to do things on her own, I didn't want to make Shannon go through raising a baby by herself. I didn't know when I'd be back from Kuwait, and I didn't want to miss my baby being born." _

"_You think Kelly would have liked a little brother?" she chuckled, wondering if the young girl would have insisted that the brother get sent back. _

"_Yeah, but she was always adamant that it be a sister." _

_*end flashback* _

"Looks like you're finally going to be a big sister Kelly," Jenny whispered softly, looking around the very pink room-something she knew that described her personality-bubbly and happy. "I promise your sister and I will take good care of your dad."

"Jen," Gibbs said softly, not wanting to scare her since her back was to the door.

"Jethro," she said, turning around and looking at him.

"She begged Shannon to paint her room pink for her fifth birthday," he said, going over and sitting on her bed. "That's when she first started liking Strawberry Shortcake."

"What else did she like?" she asked, joining him on the bed.

"She was in love with horses. One of the last things I did with her-we went camping and rode horses on the beach. She wanted to gallop, and Shannon didn't want her to. She somehow managed to get me to say yes."

"Sounds like she had you around her little finger," Jenny said, smiling at him softly.

"Yeah, she did," he chuckled, grabbing her hand in his and squeezing it lightly. "She seemed to know it too," he finished, wrapping an arm around her. They sat in silence for a while-Gibbs lost in his memories of Kelly and Shannon-Jenny knowing what talking about Kelly and being in her room must be like for him. She let him draw whatever strength he needed from her.

****NCIS****

"So you work for NCIS?" Caterina asked, looking up at Tony as they sat in the small diner waiting for their meals to arrive.

"How did you know that?" he questioned, knowing he hadn't said anything.

"The last time I talked to Dad, which was a few years ago now when I graduated high school-he said that you worked there. I did call him last month to see if he heard from you; I wanted to make sure you were okay."

Shaking his head in disbelief, Tony looked at Coop sitting in his highchair-it made him keep his temper in check. "You've talked to Dad? He knows you exist?"

"Um, yeah," she replied, albeit hesitant as she saw the controlled anger in his eyes. "He and my mom didn't divorce until I was three."

"I can't believe he never told me about you," he said, shaking his head lightly. "Well, yes I can, but that's just how he is."

Watching Tony carefully, she had to admit she was a little intimidated by him. She'd only ever heard stories about her older brother; she knew that he was a cop turned federal agent. She also knew that there was a good chance that he could find out about her past if he dug deep enough. When she'd heard about the explosion at the Navy Yard, she had called their dad to find out if he'd heard from Tony. She didn't want the first time she ever saw her brother to be at his funeral. She was also hoping that he would want to help her get her life back on track. She had been messed up in drugs pretty bad since she was around fifteen. Having an absentee father and a drunk for a mother left her with very little supervision and a way to party with older kids.

"He's never been father of the year to me," she said, handing Coop his sippy cup.

"So what made you look me up now?" he asked, as that one question had been burning in his mind.

"Well I had always wondered about you; what you were like, would you like me, were we alike at all," she said, looking up at him with the same green eyes they had both inherited from their father. "When I heard about the attack at NCIS, I was scared that I'd missed my chance to meet you. So when I talked to Dad, he gave me your address and said you were okay. It took me over a month to work up the guts to come to your apartment that day."

"I'm guessing you didn't have an easy life?"

"What makes you say that?"

Smiling at her faintly, he cocked his head to the side and really looked at her. She had the same brown hair he had; though she had some blonde and red highlights throughout. He could see that she was bordering on exhaustion; no doubt from having to take care of her son-who Tony learned was about to turn a year old. There was also something in her eyes; something he couldn't quite point out that screamed that she had gone through a lot in her life. "You look like you've grown up quicker than you should have had to."

"When I got pregnant with Cooper, I was messed up into drugs pretty bad. I was doing everything from ecstasy to heroin," she started, as the waitress brought over their food. Waiting till she was gone, she finished her story. "My mom found out I was pregnant, and she knew what I was doing. She convinced me to go into rehab, so I could give Cooper a better chance at life. She went to rehab with me for her alcoholism. We both got out and have been sober since. Coop's father keeps wanting to see him, but I'm afraid to take him because he's the one that got me into heroin. I'm afraid that I'll slip right back into it. I never listed Jason as the father on the birth certificate, and he won't take me to court because he knows that I'd mention his drug habits. I am just afraid to go back to California. I know the temptation would be too great."

"Wow," he said, running a hand down his face. "Why don't you and Coop stay with me for a while?"

"Tony, I didn't do all this so you would feel obligated to let me live with you."

"I know, and I'm not."

Thinking over her options carefully, she realized that it wasn't that bad of a deal. She and Coop would be safe, and it would give her a chance to know her brother better. "What about that lady that was at your place the other day? Is she your girlfriend or something? Wouldn't she mind us staying with you?"

"That was my partner, Ziva. She's not my girlfriend. She's only staying with me till she can start to walk up the stairs without her crutches."

"All right, thanks Tony."

Smiling at her, he just popped a piece of bacon in his mouth and chewed with a grin.

****NCIS****

Jenny and Gibbs were snuggled up together on the couch watching some old western movie that he liked when a thought popped into her mind. "Jethro, can I ask you something? It's kind of been in the back of my mind since the weekend."

"What's that?" he asked, turning the movie off and giving her his full attention.

"When Jack asked you if we were getting married and you slipped up and said yes, then quickly changed it to no," she started, before picking at the hem of his Camp Lejeune T-shirt she wore. "Is it an emphatic no? Or is there a possibility that you would marry someone again?"

"Jen-if I marry you, I want it to be the last wedding I ever have," he started, looking her in the eye. "I don't want it to be because everyone around us is expecting us to have a wedding. Just because we're having a baby, that shouldn't be the reason for a wedding."

"Oh," she said quietly, unable to hide the hurt at his declaration. "I understand what you mean."

"Good," he said, wrapping an arm around her and smirking mentally. He had a big surprise planned for her. He was planning on taking a trip back to Paris and Marseille. At least he knew what kind of answer he might receive to his question. All he needed to do was wait till it was almost time, call Jackson and have him send his mom's engagement ring down to him. They were quickly approaching the date of their stakeout in Marseille; the night they first gave into their feelings for one another. He knew she would be surprised that he actually remembered the date; hopefully too surprised to think that he was planning on proposing to her that night as well.


	14. Talking to Ducky, gifts and planning

Disclaimer: I do not own anyone you recognize. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario and company.

****NCIS****

A couple days later, Gibbs and Jenny were headed over to Ducky's to welcome him home and to also tell him their good news. He had just pulled in behind the M.E.'s Morgan when he heard Jenny gasp from beside him, making him look at her with worry. "What's wrong?"

"Your hand," she replied, not giving him a choice as she reached over and grabbed it. "Do you feel that?"

"Feel what?"

"The baby kicking."

"I don't feel anything," he replied, looking down at where she'd placed his hand on her belly. He was a little disappointed that he couldn't feel it. "Is this the first time you've felt her move?"

"Yes," she mumbled, not looking too happy that he couldn't feel their daughter.

"I'm sorry, Jen," he said softly, leaning over and kissing her gently when he saw how upset she was getting. "I'll feel her kicking soon-maybe she can even do kick boxing with Ziver."

"You're right," she said, as they got out of the truck and walked up driveway a bit. "He's got nurses staying with him 24/7 now, right?"

"Yes, Jen. They will be here until he is strong enough to be on his own again."

"Good," she replied, reaching out to ring the doorbell.

"Can I help you folks?" asked the young woman answering the door.

Gibbs held onto Jenny's hand. "We're here to see Ducky," he answered, not being overtly mean to her; but he definitely wasn't pleasant.

"Ducky?" she questioned, raising an eyebrow at them.

"Dr. Mallard," Jenny said, feeling the tension settling in with her boyfriend-she knew she needed to get the young girl to let them inside before he scared her off with his temper.

"Oh please, come on in," she said politely, as she stepped aside. "That may be the name he keeps trying to say whenever I call him Dr. Mallard. He still slurs and is a bit difficult to understand; his speech therapist will be working with him a lot more now that he's out of the hospital and in the comforts of home."

"Is he up to having a couple visitors?" Jenny asked, hoping they weren't catching him at a bad time. "We won't stay long; we just have some news to tell him."

"Right this way," she replied, leading them into the room Ducky had converted into a bedroom for his mother when her dementia had gotten worse. "Dr. Mallard, you have a couple visitors."

"Hey Duck," Gibbs said, walking over to the couch where he was sitting. "How are you feeling?"

"Mmm….bet….ter," he mumbled slowly, reaching out and taking Jenny's hand in his good one.

"We have some news for you Ducky," Jenny said, sitting down beside him, before reaching across where Gibbs was sitting and squeezing his hand. "I'm pregnant."

Watching the Scotsman smile at their news, both Gibbs and Jenny knew he was ecstatic for them, even if he couldn't vocalize it yet. He had watched them both suffer through marriage and other relationships-knowing that they were both still in love with each other but too stubborn to admit it.

"Baby," Ducky said, shocking both Jenny and Gibbs; it was the first thing he'd been able to say clearly.

"Yeah," Jenny said, smiling at him as tears of happiness shone in her eyes.

"We wanted to wait a bit before we told everyone," Gibbs said, looking his friend in the eye. "We're having a little girl."

"Her name is going to be Sophia," Jenny revealed, as that was the one name they had both agreed on. "Oh and when you're up to it, I talked to Jackson-I've got some stories of Jethro when he was a teenager," she teased.

"The team sends their best," Gibbs said, hoping to get Jenny's attention off telling Ducky about his teen years. The team had all wanted to stop and see him, but they would do it sparingly as to not overwhelm him-plus Gibbs and Jenny wanted to tell him their news in private. "You'd be proud of Palmer, Duck. He's really stepped up his game while you've been recuperating."

"G…ood," he managed to say, sending them both a small hint of a smile.

After staying at Ducky's for another twenty minutes, Jenny could see the tiredness creeping onto his face. "We'll let you get some rest now Ducky."

"Yeah Duck. We'll stop back by again in a couple days or so. Give the others a chance to stop by," Gibbs said, as he and Jenny stood up to leave.

Leaning down and kissing Ducky's cheek lightly, Jenny smiled at him gently. "Get better soon, Ducky; we all love you."

****NCIS****

Once Gibbs and Jenny got back home, they were a little surprised to see Abby's hearse sitting in front of the house. "Wonder what Abbs is doing here?" Jenny asked, as they got out of the car.

"Guess we'll find out."

Walking inside the house, Jenny was shocked to see the living room full of baby girl gift baskets and clothes. "Abby, what on earth is all this?"

"Well, I figured you weren't quite up to going shopping yet-even if you say you are. Ziva still has a couple more weeks of rehab on her knee before she can walk comfortably without crutches. I got bored and wanted to go shopping. I got kind of carried away with everything," she replied, looking over at her bosses. "Little girl stuff is too cute to shop for, I couldn't stop."

"Abby, you really didn't have to do all this," Gibbs said, walking over and hugging her gently.

"I know, but I wanted to," she replied, looking up at him. "She's going to be my pseudo sister so I have to spoil her. I even got her an outfit-it's pink and black with the skull crossbones and says 'Spoiled to the Bone.' And it's got a pink ruffle skirt attached to it. I mean, if you think about it, this kid is going to be so spoiled by all of us. We all have different tastes and stuff. I'm sure that McGee will be getting her the latest gaming stuff, Tony and his obsession with movies. Ziva may even-on second thought I don't know what Ziva would do. Probably teach her how to pick a lock and how to kill someone twenty different ways with a paper clip."

"Whoa Abbs, calm down," Jenny chuckled, as she started looking through a few of the bags. "Did you have a Caf-Pow today?"

"Yeah."

"Does this mean you are sleeping better?" Gibbs questioned, knowing she had been closed off on talking about her nightmares when they had gone for a walk the day of the cookout.

"Not a whole lot, but some."

Going over to the still slightly subdued Goth, Jenny hugged her in a motherly way. "Abby, I know you will be okay soon. The baby will be lucky to have all of you as brothers and sisters-no matter what you spoil her with."

"Thanks Jenny," she said softly, returning her hug.

****NCIS****

Later that night, Gibbs was downstairs working on the crib when Jenny walked up behind him. "Crib's coming along nicely," she mumbled, wrapping her arms around his waist and pressing a kiss in between his shoulder blades.

"Thanks," he chuckled, turning around and pulling her into his arms. "What's on your mind?"

"What makes you think I have something on my mind?"

"Because I know you."

Pulling away from the hug, she went over and sat in the chair by the workbench. "I have my meeting with Sec-Nav in the morning."

"What are you going to tell him?" he asked, knowing she'd been conflicted on whether or not she wanted to retire.

"Well, the doctor doesn't want me doing anything to cause me stress so I can't go back to work till after the baby's born. Gives me about seven more months to decide."

"Tell him that then," he said, looking her in the eye. "You need to have Leon step up as acting director till you return twelve weeks after the baby's born."

"Eight."

"Eight what?" he asked, having a feeling he knew what she meant.

"I would only be taking an extra eight weeks off after the baby's born," she replied, picking at the wood on the bench.

"Are you sure that's long enough?"

"How long would you have me take off?" she questioned, chuckling lightly.

"If I said twelve, would you hit me?"

Pretending to think over her options, she smirked at him deviously before she reached up and patted his cheek. "There, I hit you."

"Come on, let's go to bed now," he chuckled, helping her stand up from the chair and holding her hand as they walked up the stairs.

Once he had gotten Jenny in bed, he snuck back downstairs and grabbed his cell phone. Walking out onto the back porch, he dialed his dad's number, waiting on an answer.

"Hello," Jackson answered, making Gibbs smile faintly.

"Hey Dad, you got a minute to talk?"

"Leroy! What'd you need?"

Looking back inside to make sure that Jenny hadn't returned downstairs as well, he went and sat on the step-looking out into the backyard. "You think you could send me Mom's engagement ring?"

"Sure, how soon do you want it?" he asked, sounding excited by the impending news.

"Well, if you can send it out tomorrow, that'd be great," he replied, thinking about all that he had to get done before they flew to Paris in a couple weeks. "I need to get it sized, and it'll take time to get it back."

"So you're finally going to propose to the lady."

"Yeah Dad, I'm planning on taking her to Paris in a couple weeks since that's our anniversary-well the one that counts to me anyway," he chuckled. He had never considered himself an anniversary remembering type of guy-not since Shannon or the year that he and Jenny were together in Paris and Serbia. "I'm going to propose over there."

"That's great news, son," he said, genuinely happy for him and Jenny. "You both deserve it."

"Thanks," he replied. "So you'll be able to send the ring out tomorrow then?"

"I'll do it first thing in the morning on my way into the store."

"Great, I really appreciate it, Dad."

"Talk to you soon, Leroy," he said, as they ended the call.

Gibbs was still sitting on the porch an hour later, thinking about everything. He had only hoped that Jenny wouldn't suspect his plan or try and snoop anything out. Sitting, lost in his thoughts, he didn't hear Jenny walk out onto the stoop behind him.

"Hey, what are you sitting out here all alone for?" she asked, her voice laden with sleep.

"Just thinking about the baby," he replied, which wasn't a total lie-he just wasn't going to allow her to read more into his response than what she could. He knew if he said that he was thinking about their future, which did consist of thoughts of the baby, she'd wonder what all that meant. She'd always been able to read him-like he with her.

"Nice thoughts, aren't they?" she asked as she sat down beside him. She let him wrap an arm around her shoulders loosely.

"Thinking about building her a swing set when she gets old enough-maybe even for next summer," he said. Gibbs rested his hand on her stomach, willing their daughter to kick hard enough that he could feel her. "We can get her a baby swing to put on it, till she's old enough to swing in a bigger one."

"She doesn't already have you wrapped around her finger yet, does she?"

"Very funny," he mumbled, dropping a kiss onto her neck lightly-feeling her shiver in his arms.

"Are you going to sit out here all night thinking about it?"

"No, I'm coming to bed now," he chuckled, standing up and holding his hands out to help her up as well.

"Good, cause it's weird not falling asleep on your chest."

Shaking his head at her lightly, he could only hope that the plans he had for their trip and the plans he made for the proposal would go off without a hitch.


	15. Meeting with Sec Nav

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellasario. I also don't own The Capital Grille, or the salad that Jenny ordered.

****NCIS****

Jenny walked down the stairs slowly the next morning. She had her meeting with Sec-Nav at 11:30 and was nervous how it would go. He had no idea that she and Gibbs were even dating, much less having a baby. Going into the kitchen, she grabbed herself a bagel and popped it in the toaster. Her stomach was in knots wondering how the conversation would go. She knew it wouldn't be fair to Gibbs not telling Sec-Nav the truth about the baby's paternity. However, there was a small part of her that thought the idea of just telling Sec-Nav that the father was just someone she's been seeing was a good one. She hoped that telling him wouldn't cause a big blow up, putting unneeded stress on the baby and possibly sending her back to the hospital.

"Jen, you okay?" Gibbs asked quietly, not wanting to startle her, as she had been lost in her thoughts.

"I'm fine, just thinking about what I'm going to tell Sec-Nav later today."

"Don't let this stress you out," he said, pulling her into his arms. "Do you want me to be there with you?"

"No, this is something I need to handle on my own."

"Promise me you won't let yourself get upset," he said, pecking her lips softly. "I don't want to worry that you and Sophie are going to be in the hospital again."

"I promise Jethro-I won't let this upset me," she said, wrapping her arms around his neck loosely. "Sophie and I wouldn't mind having a nice bubble bath and massage when we get home."

"All right; well I'm going to go meet Tobias and see if the FBI has found out more on Dearing's whereabouts."

"Okay, well be careful," she said, leaning up and kissing him with as much love and passion as she could muster-before pulling back and whispering in a sultry tone, "A promise of things to come tonight."

"Damn, I wish we didn't have these meetings," he muttered, seeing the desire swirling in her emerald eyes.

"Now you have a reason to want to hurry home today," she teased, as she turned to get her bagel out of the toaster.

"I have a lot of other reasons to want to hurry home today as well."

"I'm sure you do, but we don't have time to hear them all. I need to eat this in the car, otherwise I'm going to be late," she said, grabbing her bagel and a vitamin water and heading toward the door. "Melvin will be driving me, so don't worry."

"Just take it easy, and remember not to-"

"Get stressed out, I know," she teased, leaning back into the house and kissing him again. "I love you, and I will see you later."

****NCIS****

Ziva had been sitting in Tony's apartment. She was a little bored since there was nothing but game shows, court shows and the few remaining soap operas on TV. She was just about to grab her book she had started reading when there was a knock at the door. Tony had gone out with his sister and nephew for the day, hoping to form a bond with them-which left Ziva alone to try to get to the door. "Just a second," she called, needing to get situated on the crutches. Her knee was getting stronger each day, but it still buckled at times if she tried to put all of her weight down on it. It was what made her physical therapist insist that she continue to use her crutches. Hobbling over to the door, she answered and saw Gibbs with a faint smirk. "Shut up, Gibbs."

"Did I say anything, Ziver?" he chuckled, walking into the apartment. "I'm only smirking because I know what you will do with those crutches when you are done with them."

"Yes, well I think we need to put the guy that made these on our most wanted wall," she said honestly. "Now, what can I do for you?"

"I need you to do me a favor, and you need to keep it a secret from everyone."

"You know I will. What is it?"

Going over and sitting down on the couch, he waited as Ziva settled down beside him, wrapping an arm around her shoulders. He felt bad that he hadn't been around her as much since the bombing-he'd had his plate full with Jenny, their baby and trying to make sure Ducky was getting the necessary care he needed. This was the first they'd had any one-on-one time since the horrors of May. "Jackson is going to send me my mother's engagement ring. I'm going to get it resized for Jenny and add a few stones around it. I need you to be the ring test dummy, so to speak. You guys look like you'd wear the same size ring. I don't want to get it, and she can't wear it."

"All right," she said, nodding solemnly. "I will be your ring dummy person."

"Thanks," he said, kissing the top of her head. "Tony getting along with this new sister of his?"

"He seems to be, but I also sense that he is not letting himself be who he is around her," she replied honestly. "It is like he is afraid to let her see the Tony DiNozzo that he is."

"Have you met her yet?"

"It was a quick introduction today-this was only the second time she was here. When she showed up the day of the barbeque, it was the first time he had met her and she did not even come into the apartment."

"What do you think?" he questioned, knowing Ziva was a good judge of character.

"I think she is just a lonely young woman, who desperately needs to connect with her family. The way Tony talks, it has always just been her and her mom. His dad was out of Caterina's life by the time she was 4, only sending child support to her. They have talked maybe a handful of times while she was growing up. He was the one who told her she had a brother and that he was an NCIS agent."

"Who knows, this could bring out a whole new side of Tony that none of us ever saw before."

"Yes, plus he has got a nephew now. I see a part of him that is maturing and growing up. I am not sure if it is from the bombing, finding out he has a little sister and nephew, or a combination of both."

"I'd say a little bit of both," he replied, smiling at her. "Listen, I need to get going. I have a meeting with Fornell to see what they have on Dearing so far. I'll bring the ring by when it gets here. Should hopefully have it before the weekend."

"Okay," she said, returning his smile. "Hey, I am really happy for you and Jen."

"Thanks," he answered sincerely, before showing himself out.

****NCIS****

Jenny arrived at The Capital Grille right on time, walking over to Phillip Davenport's table. "Mr. Secretary," she said, as he stood up and waited till she was seated before sitting again.

"How are you doing Director?"

"I am okay-the doctors are worried about my stress level," she said, easing her way into telling him about the baby.

"Why?" he questioned, as the waiter came over and halted her answer. Jenny ordered the Seared Salmon Salad with Avocado, Mango and Tomato-with an ice water and a slice of lemon, causing Phillip to look at her curiously. "No Chardonnay this afternoon?"

"No, that's what I need to talk with you about," she replied, looking him in the eye. "Before all everything with Harper Dearing got out of hand, I found out that I am pregnant."

"That's great news, right?" he asked, looking at her questioningly. "I mean, the explosion didn't cause anything to happen, did it?"

"No, the baby is healthy," she answered, taking a sip of her water. "The doctor doesn't want me to return to work till after the baby's born though. She's worried about the kind of stress I'd be dealing with, plus my age does factor in a lot with that."

"Okay, we will work that out. When are you due?"

"November 30th."

"How long are you looking to be off after the baby is born?"

"Eight weeks, but the father wants me to have twelve weeks off," she said, slowly working her way into telling him about her relationship with Gibbs.

"Who is the father?" he asked, although he had a hunch about who it was.

"Agent Gibbs," she replied, looking him in the eye. "Believe me, sir, we will not allow our relationship to get in the way of our professional duties. If anything, he pisses me off at work more than any other agent-just from his lack of patience and dealing with other agencies or reporters."

"I'm not surprised," he chuckled, having always wondered if there was something between Jenny and Gibbs. "We'll work out the details of what to say to the press later. If anything, they're still focused on the attack-they may just leave you two alone."

"Thank you sir," she sighed, feeling a lot better that the truth was out. Now all she had to do was wait and get ready for their daughter to be born-a day that she was anxiously looking forward to.

****NCIS****

"So you're basically saying, Tobias, you have no leads into where this bastard is at?" Gibbs asked, looking at his old friend angrily.

"Well he's not at his home, work, vacation houses. Are we certain that he didn't die in the explosion at the yard?" he questioned, understanding why Gibbs was angry.

"No, all the bodies and remains have been identified."

"We'll find him Jethro; he'll slip up somewhere."

"Yeah, but at what cost will we find him?" he questioned, worried that there would be another full-scale attack on the Navy before that bastard was caught.

****NCIS****

Jenny had been home from her lunch with Sec-Nav for a couple of hours. Sitting down in the living room, she was looking through all the baby baskets that Abby had bought her. Shaking her head lightly she understood in a weird way why she had done this. Reminding herself to talk to Gibbs about it later, she knew that Abby was using the news of the 'Gibblet' to keep her mind off the explosion. Finding the outfit that Abby had mentioned, that said 'Spoiled to the Bone,' she couldn't help but chuckle as Bone was actually spelled out with bones.

Gibbs was on his way home from talking with Fornell and had made an unplanned stop over at Ducky's just to check on him. He was almost ten minutes away from his house when his phone rang. "Yeah, Gibbs."

"Hello Agent Gibbs," Harper Dearing's voice came through the line. "I hope you weren't TOO injured in the bomb blast at the Yard."

"You bastard, what do you think you're proving by doing this?"

"It's like I told you already, Agent Gibbs. I'm getting justice for Evan."

"By killing people that didn't even have anything to do with your son's death?"

"Just an added bonus I guess."

"What do you want, Dearing?"

"Meet me at Anacostia Park in thirty minutes," he said, looking out over the view he had. "We'll settle this there."

"Fine by me," he said, hoping that he could get a hold of Tony for backup. He'd get Fornell and the Hoover guys to set up parameters around the park as well.

"I'll see you soon, Agent Gibbs."

Almost an hour later, Gibbs, Fornell and Tony were waiting for Dearing to show up at the park. "The bastard's not going to show," Gibbs grumbled, looking over at Tony. "I need to go home and check on Jen. Tobias, are you going to keep your men here just in case?"

"Yeah, I'll have my men stand guard here for a while."

"Tony, be prepared to go just in case," Gibbs said, before heading to his car.

"I'll be glad when this bastard is caught," Tony said, looking over at Fornell.

"You aren't the only one."

Gibbs pulled into his driveway a little while later, seeing that Jenny was already back from her meeting with Sec-Nav. Getting out and walking inside, he called out for her. "Jen!" Not getting any sort of answer sent his gut churning. Walking up the stairs, he went to their bedroom and saw that she had obviously been taking a nap. Looking in the bathroom, he didn't see her in there either. He ran back downstairs, looked out into the backyard and didn't see her before opening the basement door and yelling for her. Not getting an answer, he grabbed his phone off his belt and ran back out to his car. Before he could dial anyone though, a neighbor kid walked up behind him.

"Gibbs," the tiny girl's voice said, as she poked him on the leg.

"Hey Samantha," he replied, turning around and kneeling in front of the seven year old. He tried to not seem irritated, knowing the girl wouldn't understand.

"Some guy was at your house and he wanted me to give you this note," she said, handing him a folded piece of paper.

'If you want to see your precious director and her baby alive-I suggest you meet me alone next time.' Reading the note again, Gibbs felt his blood run cold.

"Is Jenny going to be okay?" Samantha asked, having seen the guy forcing Jenny into his car.

"Yeah sweetie, she'll be fine," he said, looking back at her face. "Listen, I need you to go back home. Tell your mom and dad that I'll be over in a little while. I need to talk to you more about what this guy looked like and said."

"Okay Gibbs," she said, getting on her bike and riding back down to her house.

Grabbing his phone again, he dialed the number of the one person he knew could help him. "Camilla, I need you to get a hold of Mike for me. Tell him to get on a plane to D.C., that Jenny has been kidnapped."


	16. He Has Her Mike

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks for the reviews, favorites and story alerts you guys have given me. I've been on vacation and sick since I had first typed this chapter up two weeks ago. Hopefully I haven't lost my creative Jibbs muse; or that it stayed on vacation while I came back. So if you guys have something you would like to see, let me know and I will try and work it in.

****Previously on NCIS****

_Grabbing his phone again, Gibbs dialed the number of the one person he knew could help him. "Camilla, I need you to get a hold of Mike for me. Tell him to get on a plane to D.C.-that Jenny has been kidnapped."_

****NCIS****

"Jethro, what the hell is going on?" Fornell asked, walking into Gibbs' house where Tony was going through and collecting evidence.

"The bastard was here, Tobias," he replied angrily, writing some things down. "He took Jenny, left a note with a neighbor girl and had her give it to me."

"Okay, we'll find her."

"You're damn right we'll find her," he growled, stopping Tony in his tracks as he walked into the kitchen where they were.

"Boss, if Jenny has her cell phone then we can track the GPS on it," Tony said, looking at both men warily. "I'll need McGoo's help on that one though."

"All right, just tell him not to say anything to Abby," Gibbs said, looking over at his senior field agent. "I don't want her worrying needlessly. God knows how she'll handle the news of Jenny being abducted."

"On it, boss," he said before he left the house.

****NCIS****

Several hours later, there was still no word from Dearing-Tony was still working with McGee on tracking Jenny's cell. Gibbs had talked to Sec-Nav, who promised to make all resources available to find her. He had just arrived back at the house when he heard Mike's gravelly voice coming from the kitchen. "Probie, what in the hell has been going on here?"

"That bastard has her Mike," he growled, wanting to throw his phone into the wall. "He set up a meet with me at Anacostia today-didn't show up. I came home and found Jenny's car here but she was gone. A neighbor girl gave me a note that Dearing had left. She saw him force Jenny into his car."

"Did she say if Jenny looked injured?"

"No, she said that Jenny was walking-though it looked like she really didn't want to be getting in his car," he said, looking over at him.

"What the hell is this guy's problem?"

"He's pissed cause his son is dead, blames the navy for it."

"We're going to find her, probie," Mike said, taking Gibbs' extra revolver. "Now what does this bastard look like? Do you have any leads on where he has Red?" he asked, pulling out his nickname for Jenny.

"McGee and Tony are running a search on Jenny's phone GPS."

As soon as he said that, the front door opened and Tony, McGee and Fornell ran into the house. "Boss, we got a ping off Jenny's phone from a tower near an old abandoned warehouse building in Annandale," McGee said, as the three men looked at Mike Franks with a little bit of shock.

"You guys follow behind, don't take a shot at him," Gibbs said, holstering his SIG Sauer. "The bastard is mine."

"Let's go," Mike said, following Gibbs out the front door. He knew what Gibbs was capable of, especially when it came to the woman he loved. He saw how far that love and devotion went when Gibbs traveled down to Mexico and put a bullet through Pedro Hernandez. This Dearing guy better hope and pray that he hadn't hurt a hair on Jenny's head, cause if she's harmed-there was no law and nobody that could stop Leroy Jethro Gibbs from killing the bastard.

****NCIS****

"How long do you think you can get away with this, Dearing?" Jenny asked, looking at the man questioningly. "You really think that my agency, the Secretary of the Navy, the President of the United States, aren't looking for me? You think Jethro won't find me before you do anything?" she questioned, trying to loosen the ties around her wrists.

"The man hasn't been able to find me yet."

Moving her hands around in the ropes, Jenny tried to slip one out-however the ropes were done up tightly to inflict as much pain and burning as it could. "He'll find you," she said.

Unbeknownst to Jenny, Dearing had caught her wiggling her hands around in the ropes, setting him off into an irate fury. "Stop moving, you bitch!" he yelled, reaching up and backhanding her for her efforts. "If you even think of wanting to see your child after it's born, I suggest you stop trying to find a way to escape."

"You think two wrongs make a right?" she asked, feeling the blood trickling down her chin from the busted lip she now had. "You would really kill me, make my child motherless? You think that's fair to a baby? You are so pissed that you think the Navy killed your son—yet you kill others and take them away from their families that love them? How is that right?"

"Just shut up," he growled, getting in her face. "Everything that I have done has been for Evan-for taking away his life before he ever really got to live."

"Well, I hope you are prepared to spend the rest of your life in prison. That's where you'll end up going, if Jethro doesn't kill you when he finds you."

"Bitch," he snapped, hitting her in the head with the gun-knocking her out cold.

****NCIS****

"Boss, there's no sign of Jenny or Dearing anywhere," Tony said, running up to Gibbs and Mike. "McGee found her phone tossed onto the ground; that's why he was able to pick up that she was here."

"Damn it!" Gibbs yelled, slamming his hand against the car door.

"Come on, probie. Let's go take a walk," Mike said, pulling Gibbs away and shooting Tony a look that said not to follow them. "Do you know of any place where this bastard could be hiding?"

"Maybe at his company-they hadn't seen him in several weeks or so they kept saying," he replied, looking up at his former boss. "Dorado Hills Investments, it's in downtown Arlington."

"Well then let's go," he said, grabbing Gibbs' arm and leading him back to where the sedan was. "You better leave your boys here; this ain't gonna be pretty."

Getting back to the warehouse a little bit later, Gibbs walked with purpose to his car, yanking the door open. "DiNozzo, McGee!"

"Yeah boss," Tony said, looking over at where Gibbs was standing.

"Stay here and finish processing the area. Then get back with Abby and Ziva. I don't want them left alone."

"Gibbs, I can send some of my men to guard the girls," Fornell said, having never seen his friend in such a desperate mental state.

"Do not alert Abby; she doesn't know what's going on," Gibbs said, looking over at Fornell. "The last thing I need is for her to wind up in the hospital because she is never sleeping again. This bastard has ruined too many lives now, I'll be damned if he ruins any more."

"All right, I will not allow them to inform Abby. They will just stand outside her apartment."

"Uh, Fornell, she's staying with me," McGee replied, looking over at him. "She's not wanted to be alone since this happened."

"I need to call Cat," Tony said, reaching for his phone. "The last thing I need is for my sister and nephew to get to the apartment-I'm making her go to New York and stay with my dad."

"Probie!" Mike yelled, as they needed to hurry up and leave; no telling what shape Jenny would be in when they found her.

"Let's go," Gibbs said, getting in the car-pulling away from the building before Mike could even shut his door.

****NCIS****

Driving the hour up to Arlington, Gibbs was lost in thought. He was worried about Jenny and the life of their baby girl. He was thinking about the ring that would be arriving the next day-the ring he was going to use to propose to Jenny in Paris.

"Probie, what's going on in that mind of yours?" Mike asked, as he could see the look on his face was one he hadn't seen in over twenty years-when he first met the grieving Gunnery Sergeant. "There's more going on in that mind of yours than Red being missing."

"I've been trying to throw Jenny off track for weeks now; she thinks I don't want to marry her-even though she's having my baby."

"But you want to?" Mike asked, hoping he was on the same train of thought as Gibbs.

"Yeah Mike, but I can't have her die thinking I didn't love her enough to want to be her husband."

"She is not going to die," he said, reaching up and smacking the back of his head. "Stop thinking like that."

"She is the best thing that's happened in my life-since Shannon and Kelly."

"Well, when you get her back, tell her all this. Tell her that you can't live without her, that she completes you. Chicks dig that sort of stuff," he said, lighting up a cigarette.

"Heh," he chuckled lightly. Pulling up outside the building, Gibbs and Mike got out of the Charger-neither one shutting their doors all the way. They didn't want to alert Dearing that they were there, for fear of what he may do to Jenny. Both men crept into the building quietly. Jenny had always teased Gibbs that his eyesight sucked, but his hearing was impeccable. He could hear the faint sounds of Jenny whimpering a floor above them. Walking stealthily up the stairs, he motioned at Mike where he heard Jenny's whimpers coming from. Spotting Dearing standing in front of Jenny, Gibbs felt his blood boil when he saw him backhand Jenny and yell at her for trying once again to escape. Moving into a better position, Gibbs took his shot, hitting him between the eyes. He watched in satisfaction as his body fell backward onto the ground. Rushing forward to Jenny, he pulled his knife out from his pocket and untied the ropes on her hands.

"Jen, it's okay," he mumbled, pulling her up into his arms and holding her protectively.

"Jethro," she muttered, her lip swollen from being hit a few times and her head throbbing from the hit off the gun. "I want to go home."

"We will."

"Hmm," she sighed, wrapping her arms around him tightly—never wanting to let go.


	17. Leavin' on a Jet Plane

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone you recognize. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for the encouraging reviews. A little under a month and Season X will be starting here in the US. Hope you all enjoy this chapter.

****NCIS****

Gibbs and Jenny were lying in bed the next morning; the sun had long come up, but neither one really cared. She had her head on his chest, listening to the comforting sounds of his heartbeat. He was content running his fingers through her hair.

"Jen, will you be okay here for a little while with Mike?" he asked, making her look up at him questioningly.

"Why?" she asked back, knowing he had said that he wasn't going anywhere that day.

"Sec-Nav wants to have my report on what happened last night." He looked her in the eye. "Plus, I need to go to the lumber store and get some more wood to finish the rocker for the nursery."

"All right," she replied, leaning forward and kissing him softly. "Since you're getting stuff for the baby."

"Good."

****NCIS****

Jenny and Mike were sitting in the living room, arguing over the TV remote. "Mike, this is my house. I am watching what I want to watch," she said. She was trying to watch Young and the Restless, but Mike was trying to get the remote away and turn to something a lot more stimulating to the mind-or so he kept telling her.

"I'm the guest; you should let me watch what I want to, Red."

"When have you ever been just a guest at this house?" she asked, looking at him in disbelief.

"Well, that don't mean I got to watch some cheesy daytime soap opera," he said, looking at her with a mild aggravation.

"My house, my rules," she said cockily, not willing to tell him that his 'Probie' is in essence whipped and doesn't fight her on the TV situation anymore.

"Your rules?!" he asked, amused. "Somehow I think Probie will have a different take on this."

"Feel free to ask him, but for right now we're not watching some John Wayne cowboy movie," she replied, managing to get the TV on the right channel to see the beginning of her show. "The doctors want me to remain stress free, so that basically means I can't watch the news. I can, however, try and catch up with the one remaining soap opera that was on in my college days. The other two have been off for a few years now-you should consider yourself lucky."

"Damn Probie," he muttered, sitting down on the couch beside her.

Gibbs had managed to get his report into Sec-Nav and had discussed with him borrowing his private jet to take Jenny to Paris. Getting it all lined up for that afternoon, he took the ring he'd grabbed from the FedEx man before he left that morning and headed over to Tony's. Knocking on the door lightly, a young woman who bore the same striking green eyes as Tony answered.

"Can I help you?" she asked, looking at him questioningly.

"Yes, I'm looking for Ziva. Is she here by any chance?"

"Sure, come on in," she replied, opening the door wider for him. "She's in the bedroom getting ready."

"Okay," he replied, sitting down on the couch. "So you're DiNozzo's sister?"

"Yes sir," she answered, looking over at him. "Are you their boss?"

"Uh huh," he replied. "You don't have to call me sir."

"Okay, so what do I call you?"

"Gibbs is fine."

Before Caterina could say anything more, Ziva walked out from the bedroom. "Hello Gibbs," she said, having been given the go-ahead to put a little more weight on her leg-which was exciting for her, but not so much for Tony who was enjoying her staying with him. "Did you get the ring yet?"

"Yes, that's why I'm here."

"Well, let us see it," she said, sitting down on the other side of him.

"Here," he replied, pulling it out of his pocket and showing it to her. It was a beautiful platinum oval three-stone engagement ring.

"Gibbs, it is gorgeous."

"Do you think it will fit her?"

"Yes, I do not think you need to add anything at all to it."

"I know I don't know you or your girlfriend, but she will love that ring," Caterina said, looking over at Gibbs. "She sounds like she's really lucky to have you."

"Thank you," Gibbs replied, smiling at her faintly. "I'm taking Jenny to Paris. She doesn't know where we're going, but I'm going to surprise her with the ring at the Eiffel Tower."

"Cat is right. She really is lucky to have you," Ziva said, smiling at her boss warmly. "I am surprised Tony has not bragged about being right about you two."

"What do you mean?" Caterina asked.

"He and Abby have discussed numerous times how they thought that Gibbs and Director Shepard had a thing in Paris," she replied, looking back at the ring. "When Gibbs and Jenny told us that they were together a couple weeks ago, he has not made a lot of comments about it like I thought he would."

"Well, I hate to show you the ring and run, but I've left Jenny and Mike at the house together," Gibbs said, standing up to leave. "I'm sure that they're both ready to kill me for it."

"I thought they got along with each other?" Ziva asked, knowing that Mike had saved Jenny at the diner several years prior.

"They do, but Jenny isn't allowed to be Jenny until after the baby is born," he said, hugging her to him. "Which means she's bored out of her mind and driving Mike insane. Plus I still need to stop by the lumber store and get stuff to finish the rocker."

"Well, I will talk to you when you return," she said, hugging him back tightly. "Abby is wanting to go shopping for the baby-Jenny mentioned it too. Hopefully by the time you both return, I will be able to walk better without the crutches."

"You take care of yourself, Ziver," he said, kissing the top of her head.

"It was nice to finally meet you Gibbs," Caterina said, extending her hand out to shake his.

"If you need any help dealing with your brother, get Ziva on his case. Once I get back, I'll head slap him if need be."

"Thanks Gibbs, but Tony's been pretty great," she said honestly. "It sort of shocked me, the way my dad made Tony sound before. Although the last time I talked to him about Tony, well before the explosion-I was like thirteen and dad hadn't talked to him in years so I guess that was his last impression of him."

"All right," he chuckled. He got the ring back from Ziva and put it in the box before he headed down to his truck.

****NCIS****

A couple hours later, Gibbs returned to the house. "Hey," he called out. He looked in the living room and saw Jenny sitting on the couch, watching some sort of soap opera. "Jen, go upstairs and pack some stuff, enough for a couple weeks."

"Where are we going?" she asked, raising an eyebrow at him. "Don't you have to work?"

"Where we are going is classified," he replied, helping her up from the couch. "Work is covered."

"All right," she said, heading toward the stairs. "When are we leaving?"

"Two hours," he replied, having gone over the itinerary with Sec-Nav that morning.

Watching her to make sure she went all the way up to their room, he turned back to Mike.

"Boss, what are you watching?" he asked, smirking at him in amusement.

"Well she had me watching Young and Beautiful or some crap like that," he grumbled, looking at him tersely. "Did you know that Victor Newman is more of a bastard than you are?"

"I think Jen's mentioned that name to me before," he chuckled, shocked that she had actually gotten Mike to sit and watch a soap with her. He had figured he'd grumble and leave her alone.

"So you're taking her to Paris now?" Mike asked, as they went down to the basement.

"Yeah, talked to Sec-Nav this morning. He's giving us his plane this afternoon, so we'll arrive in Paris sometime tomorrow morning."

"How you going to keep Red from finding out where you're at?"

"The pilot has been instructed not to mention our destination," he said, grabbing the small heart-shaped box he'd carved and put the ring inside it.

"Good luck with that," he laughed, knowing that Jenny would start demanding to know where they were going. "Hell, Probie, when did you move the TV down here?"

"After Jenny moved in," he said, looking up at him. "Why?"

"I could have came down here and watched something besides soap operas all damn day."

"Admit it, Mike, you enjoyed it," Jenny said, walking down the stairs. "You even thought that Sharon was a hottie."

"Heh," Gibbs chuckled, seeing the look on Mike's face. "Uh, Jen. Let me go pack, then we can get out of here. Actually, you might want to come upstairs with me, you might be safer."

"You think I'm scared of Mike?" she laughed, as the three headed upstairs. "Please, I know one way to take him down-it will remain my little secret though."

"I'm staying out of this," he said, as Jenny and Mike went into the living room and he headed upstairs to pack and grab their passports.

"You know, you better be glad I like you so much, Red," Mike grumbled, sitting down on the couch.

"That and you know what hell Jethro went through losing Shannon and Kelly, so you'd never hurt me," she replied, sitting down beside him. "Please tell me he wasn't being an ass to everyone last night, trying to find me?"

"He was Probie," he replied. "He wasn't going to stop until he got you back and got that Dearing bastard dead."

"I tried to get away," she mumbled, as things were starting to catch up to her then. "He surprised me being in the house. I had gone upstairs to take a nap cause Jethro wasn't home-after I got back from my meeting with Sec-Nav. I knew Jethro would find me; Dearing had gotten too cocky with this latest move."

"He did," Mike replied, knowing that eventually the tough-as-nails director exterior would crumble. He could only hope that this trip to Paris that Gibbs had planned would be enough to help her get through it. There was never a pair better suited for each other than Gibbs and Jenny, if for no other reason than they were the two most stubborn people he had ever met. Neither one wanted to let their guard down and show any sign of vulnerability or emotions.

Shaking her head clear, Jenny looked up at him. "Do you know where Jethro is taking me?"

"Nope, not a clue," he replied with a chuckle.

"Liar."

"Yep, but I will say that you will love where you're going."

"Thanks Mike," she replied, rolling her eyes jokingly.

****NCIS****

"Jethro, why can't you tell me where we are going?" she asked, as she was getting a little antsy on the jet. "We've been flying for what feels like forever."

"We have," he agreed, having taken her watch and cell phone away from her. He knew she'd be able to figure out where they were going if she was consciously aware of the time. They had about thirty minutes left to their flight before they'd land at Charles De Gaulle Airport. He also knew that when they stepped off the jet, she'd realize by the Eiffel Tower lit up where they were.

"So why can't you tell me where we're going?" she asked again, moving onto his lap. "It's not nice to keep secrets from the mother of your child."

"It's not a secret, it's a surprise. One I know you will love, so I kind of want to see your face when you see where it is we are."

"Not even a little hint?" she asked, leaning in and kissing around his neck, hoping to entice him into telling her.

"Jen," he groaned lightly, as he knew what she was trying to do. He also knew they didn't have enough time to do what he wanted to do, if she kept up with this torture on his neck.

"Give me a hint," she purred, knowing she could get him to crack-she just needed to play her cards right.

"You need your passport," he said, tangling his fingers in her hair. "Now there's your hint."

"Bastard," she grumbled lightly, moving off his lap, but still staying close beside him.

"You'll know soon enough," he laughed, kissing the top of her head.

True to what Gibbs had thought, they landed thirty minutes later. Getting out of the jet first, Gibbs held his hand out to Jenny, to help her down the steps of the plane-but to also see the look on her face when she realized where they were.

"Jethro," she gasped, looking up at him with a few tears shining in her emerald eyes. "You brought me to Paris?"

"Happy Anniversary, Jen," he mumbled in her ear, leaning in and kissing her softly. "Today is the anniversary of when we first got together in Marseille."

"Leroy Jethro Gibbs, you remembered an anniversary?" she asked, wiping away the 'hormone tears' as she liked to call them. "You are beyond amazing right now."

"I love you, Jen," he said softly, leaning in and kissing her. "Now let's go. I've rented us a little cottage house to stay at for two weeks."

"What about work?" she asked, as he led her toward the car he rented.

"Tony can handle it. Besides, the agency isn't fully operational yet-so Fornell and the Hoover guys are still working with us," he replied. "Tony and McGee are going to be looking in on Ducky, plus they're keeping an eye on Abby and Ziva. The point of this trip is to not worry about what is going on back in D.C. If it's an emergency, they know how to reach me."

"Being with you is going to spoil me," she laughed, getting into the car. "But it's definitely worth it."


	18. Paris

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Okay, this is the last chapter I have already done and ready to post. I know what I want to do next, but it's just the matter of finding the inspiration to sit down and get it done and out. I will try my best to stay with a Sunday posting schedule, however that may not always happen.

****NCIS****

Later that afternoon, Jenny woke up to the feeling of Gibbs running his fingers through her hair. "Mmm, good morning," she mumbled, stretching out against him. She leaned up and kissed the pulse point in his neck lightly.

"More like good afternoon," he replied in a husky whisper. "Did you sleep well?"

"Yes."

"Good," he replied, leaning down to kiss her softly on her lips. "We need to get up soon, got a busy day planned for you."

Looking at him strangely, she scooted up on the bed and put her back against the iron headboard. "You have planned out stuff for us to do in Paris?"

"Why do you seem so shocked?" he asked, wrapping his arms around her. Since he had gotten her back from Dearing, he felt like he needed to constantly hold her in his arms to prove that she was there, alive and okay.

"When we were here thirteen years ago, you didn't plan any of our 'undercover tourist' things. You had to be dragged to the Louvre," she chuckled, snuggling herself up close to him. "You did at least plan for a day that I can go shopping, didn't you?"

"Really Jen? You need to go shopping?" he asked, raising an eyebrow at her. Having been the one to pack up most of her things from the townhouse, he was still reeling over how many shoes she had. It seemed every outfit she owned had its own pair of shoes to go with it.

"Not for me silly, the baby," she laughed. She moved to get out of bed, but he tightened his arms around her waist. "I want to get a shower and all before we leave. So I kind of need you to let me go, Jethro."

Smirking at her as only he could, he leaned in and whispered, "We could always share the shower."

"Jethro, I want to get out and SEE Paris," she laughed. "I know what sharing a shower with you is like. We won't make it out of here today."

"We've seen Paris before," he said, dropping a soft kiss onto her shoulder.

"We were undercover then," she said, not making any attempt to leave his arms. "Now we're here as Jenny and Jethro; no undercover op to keep us from really seeing the sights."

"All right, go get your shower," he grumbled lightly, releasing her from his arms.

"Thank you," she said, leaning over and pecking his lips lightly. "I won't be long."

****NCIS****

Once Jenny had finished her shower and gotten dressed, she and Gibbs, who had already had his shower before she woke up, went out and traveled around Paris. Heading toward a castle just on the outskirts of the city, Gibbs checked his pocket again to make sure that he had put the ring in there before they left. He was intending to take her to a lot of the places they had never gotten to go to when they were in Paris thirteen years earlier. Hell, he was content to let Jenny ramble on to him about various paintings in the museums that she loved. He knew that even as director, the few trips she'd been on to Paris never afforded her the opportunity to go sight seeing. As much as this trip was for them to spend some uninterrupted time together, he wanted to make it about her-letting her get to enjoy life. Jenny was tough as nails and would never admit to the fact she was more than a little jumpy since the bombing-and then Dearing being able to break into their house and kidnap her. There was even a small part of Gibbs that couldn't admit to being a little more worried since he had gotten her back. He had already buried a wife and little girl. He didn't think he had it in him to do so again.

"Jethro, look at this castle," she whispered, looking out the cab window in awe as they were pulling up outside the Chateau de Vincennes. It was a large medieval castle that was being redone when they were in Paris years before, and she had been upset they hadn't been able to tour it. "You remembered I wanted to see it."

"They just finished renovations not too long ago," he replied with a shrug. "I figured we could go on a tour of it today and go have dinner at that little bistro outside the Eiffel Tower that you used to love."

"Sounds romantic."

"Well, for you I try," he replied. He helped her out of the cab before paying the driver the fare. "Just don't let anyone else know that about me."

"You mean like DiNozzo?" she chuckled, threading her fingers through his as they walked toward the castle.

"Yeah, I don't need him thinking I'm getting soft or anything," he replied, watching as her eyes lit up the closer they got to the doors of the castle.

After spending close to three hours walking around and looking in various rooms of the castle, Jenny had practically been in awe of it all-pointing out different pictures and such that she liked. By the time they made it back to the exit, she was exhausted and hungry. "Jethro, you think we can go to the bistro now? Sophie is hungry, and she is letting me know it."

"Yeah, we just need to hail another cab," he replied, wrapping an arm around her waist and leading her out to the street. He hoped that a cab would come soon.

"Do you know how nice it is to be on a vacation and not have my security detail with me?"

"Well, you seem to love ditching them a lot," he teased, as she had been known to skip out on her security team a time or two.

"In my defense, I didn't skip out on them when Dearing kidnapped me," she said, leaning against his side. "Besides, I haven't skipped out on them since the whole fiasco at Will's diner in the desert years ago."

"Yes, and I'm proud of you for keeping with Melvin and them," he teased with a smirk.

"Smart ass," she muttered, as he managed to finally flag down a cab. Listening to him give the driver their destination, she looked up at him. "How much more work do you have to do on the crib and rocker?" she asked, leaning against him.

Wrapping his arms around her, he ran his fingers lightly through her hair, still not wanting to take her for granted. "The rocker is finished-I just need to stain it. I need to finish the rungs on the crib, stain it and they'll both be done."

"Good, then you can get started on the dresser and changing table," she said, smiling up at him coyly.

"Cute Jen," he chuckled as they rode the rest of the way to the bistro in a contented silence, just holding onto each other.

****NCIS****

"Jethro, this is definitely a side of you I never expected to see," Jenny said as they were sitting outside the bistro in front of the lit up Eiffel Tower.

"Why?" he asked, taking a bite of the steak he'd ordered.

"I don't know. I guess I just didn't expect you to be Mr. Romantic," she said, looking over at him. "You've planned this whole trip, and it's been nothing short of spectacular already-and you did it all without any help from me."

"You haven't seen anything yet," he replied suavely, making her raise a perfectly shaped eyebrow.

"Jethro," she said quietly, a faint smile crossing her face. "Seriously, what has brought all this on?"

Taking her hand in his lightly, he squeezed it-looking deeply into her eyes. "I'm not very good with words," he said, his struggle obvious. Feeling Jenny squeeze his hand back in reassurance gave him the courage to go on. "But you helped heal my heart after losing Shannon and Kelly." He rubbed her hand, turning his focus there because the next part was hard to admit. "Thirteen years ago, I made a foolish mistake in never telling you I loved you." Taking a deep breath, he raised his eyes up to meet hers-seeing the soft emerald color shining with all the love she held for him. "Now I'm never going to let a moment or day go by that I'm not telling you how much I love you or how much you mean to me. I promise you will not be ex-wife number four." Reaching into his pants pocket, he pulled out the gray velvet box and opened it up-revealing his mother's engagement ring to her. "Will you marry me, Jen?"

"Jethro," she gasped, her hand flying up to her mouth as tears pooled in her eyes. Looking down at the ring, she was in awe of how beautiful it looked. Moving her gaze back up to his face, she realized that this was everything she wanted. "Yes!"

Smiling at her lovingly, he slipped the ring onto her finger and leaned in to kiss her. "I love you," he whispered, pulling back to look her in the eye as he said it.

Letting herself get lost in the cobalt eyes of her fiancé, she rested a hand on his cheek-smiling at him warmly. "I love you, too."

****NCIS****

After spending the rest of the two weeks pretty much not leaving the little cottage, Gibbs and Jenny were ready to head back home. "You think Abby will love the pictures from the Sainte-Chapelle we got?" she asked, as they had made a special trip to the thirteenth century Gothic palace chapel.

"I'm sure she'll love it," he replied, taking his bags and sitting them in front of the door. "I can't believe we had to buy another suitcase for you to take home the stuff you've bought."

"Well, most of it is for Sophia," she replied with a shrug. "I mean really, do you think I'm going to feel like coming back to Paris after she's born to get some of these outfits I saw? Plus I saw some new shoes I wanted to get," she said, stopping there before adding one last thought. "There are worse addictions to have other than shopping."

"Let's get going," he chuckled as he grabbed their two suitcases while she grabbed her rolling suitcase.

"Thank you for a wonderful vacation," she said, grabbing a hold of his hand once he'd put their luggage in the trunk of the car. "This has been more relaxing and fun than I could have ever imagined."

"Well, if you loved this vacation, wait till you see what I have planned for a honeymoon," he replied, leaning in and kissing her softly.

"I love you," she whispered contently as he led her over to the passenger side and held her door open so she could get in the car.

"Love you too," he replied before going around and getting in to drive them to the airport.


	19. Baby Plans

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Thanks to JibbsGal1 for betaing this for me and getting it back today. I really appreciate it. Also thanks to everyone who is reviewing and favoriting this story. It really means a lot.

****NCIS****

Gibbs and Jenny had been back from Paris for a couple of weeks. Having had the team over to tell them about their engagement, Jenny had already asked Ziva and Abby to be her bridesmaids. She felt funny about picking either one over the other to be her maid of honor, so she just gave them both the same title. Of course helping Jenny plan the wedding, and finding ways to spoil the unborn Jibblet, was helping Abby to 'get the good back,' as she had been searching for it desperately since the attack in May.

Jenny walked into the kitchen and found Abby and Ziva already waiting for her. "So I'm guessing you two are ready to go shopping?" she asked teasingly, sort of surprised to see them both there so early in the morning.

"Yes, Gibbs let us in and told us to tell you that he had something to do with his part of the wedding," Ziva said, looking over at her friend. "He will see you tonight."

"All right, well let me get some juice and a bagel and we can go," she said, grabbing a Vitamin Water from the fridge and a banana.

"Jenny, I thought you were getting a bagel?" Abby asked, looking at her weirdly.

"The banana sounds better than a bagel right now," she replied with a shrug, as the trio headed out to the Sedan Gibbs had left for them to drive. "Ziva, are you sure you're going to feel like walking around?"

"Yes, Jenny. The doctor said I am allowed to resume normal activity now," she answered, as she got in the passenger seat while Abby climbed in the back. "Tony is trying to convince me to still stay at his apartment now, even though I am back on my feet."

"Really?" Jenny asked, looking at her questioningly. She'd known for quite a while how the young Italian felt about her friend. Honestly, she was surprised it had taken this long for them to even attempt anything. Of course Ziva hadn't told her that they were together, but she wasn't stupid. She knew it may be only a matter of time before Gibbs is giving Tony the 'father talk,' and threatening to hurt him if he hurts Ziva.

"Yes, but he says it is because he is not comfortable with his sister yet, which is a little weird, cause they seem to get along great."

"Ziva, Tony is in love with you," Abby said, shaking her head in disbelief. "You're a trained investigator; you couldn't see that he's loved you for years now?"

"What?" she asked, looking back at her. "Tony is not in love with me."

Shaking her head, Jenny couldn't believe how Ziva was so dense about this. Of course, she knew that Ziva had feelings for Tony, but she wasn't sure why she wasn't admitting it to them. "Ziva, you know you love him too."

"What about rule twelve?"

Shooting her a look that clearly asked her if she was kidding, Jenny shook her head. "I think rule twelve is thrown out the window, Ziva. Gibbs would be a hypocrite if he tried to enforce that rule now, especially since we're getting married and having a baby. Plus with all that has happened, he'd be foolish to think that it hasn't brought you two closer together. Same goes for you and McGee, Abs."

Once Jenny finished her little spiel, both girls were rendered speechless. They both knew that they had feelings toward both men; however, they weren't counting on the director to call them out on them-or the unanswered questions that they brought up internally.

****NCIS****

Gibbs was busy walking around the hardware store, looking for the right kind of wood he needed to make the letters to spell out Sophia's name to put above her crib. Jenny had told him what colors she wanted for the nursery, so he was making sure to grab enough paint to do the walls and also enough to paint the wood of the letters once he was done. Grabbing a dark pink as well as the brown she said she wanted to put around the trim, he headed toward the front of the store to cash out. Once that was finished, he got in his truck and was getting ready to pull away when he got a phone call. Looking at the caller ID, he saw it was Tony.

"Yeah, DiNozzo," he said, putting the key in the ignition and pulling out of the lot.

"Did you still want Tim and I to come over today and help you paint?"

"Yeah," he replied before adding, "I need to run by the travel agency and get the tickets for the honeymoon. Go ahead and go in the house if you get there before I do."

"All right boss," Tony said, before saying goodbye and hanging up.

Once Gibbs got to the travel agency he had spoken with the day before, he got out and walked inside. He knew it would be close to impossible to surprise Jenny with their honeymoon destination-if only because she was too impatient to wait and see where they were going. At least if their trip back to Paris was any indication. Talking with an agent, Gibbs had gotten their two tickets to Bora Bora, and they were staying in a bungalow at the Lagoon Resort there. Driving back to the house, he was proud of the destination he had chosen for them, knowing Jenny would enjoy the warm ocean feel as well as the romantic atmosphere of the resort.

****NCIS****

"Aww, look at this," Abby said. They were in a little shop in the mall called Things Remembered. She had found a frame that had spelled out 'Mama's Boy' and a picture of a woman with what appeared to be a 2-year-old little boy in it. "This is so adorable, Jenny."

"That is cute," she replied, an idea swirling in her mind. She knew it would be risky, not sure how Gibbs would react, but at the same time he wasn't shutting her out about his memories of Kelly anymore. They had definitely come a long way from when she first found out about Shannon and Kelly, and their untimely deaths. She remembered back to earlier in the year, on the anniversary of their deaths. She had gone over to his house and found him in the basement drinking bourbon and staring at a photo album. That night she had seen photos of the three of them and came to understand the pain he had been living with for 21 years. Remembering a picture of him holding Kelly for the first time, he had said, she thought about taking the picture and going to get a copy made and then pairing it with a picture of him the first time he will hold Sophia. Deciding to get a double-sided frame, she took it over to the engraving counter and waited in line.

"What are you doing Jenny?" Ziva asked, wondering what her friend was up to.

"I'm getting a present for Jethro," she replied simply, as she walked up to the clerk when he was ready for her. "I want the top of the frame to say 'Daddy's Girls' and then at the bottom, under the left side, I want it to say 'Kelly' and on the bottom right I want it to say 'Sophia.'"

"Uh Jenny, do you even have any pictures of Kelly?" Abby asked hesitantly, wondering in her mind if Jenny was crossing into forbidden territory.

"Jethro has an album of pictures he keeps down in the basement," she replied, as they got the receipt for pick up and headed out of the store. "He showed to me several months ago. I just need to be able to get the picture out and take it to have it enlarged. Then when Sophia is born, one of you can take a picture of him the first time he holds her. That will go in her side."

"Well, if you can sneak the picture to me, I'll enlarge it for you guys," she said, as they stopped at a pretzel place. They ordered some soft pretzels since Jenny was craving them after seeing it. "I don't want to go through El Jefe's things, but if you get it when we get back, I'll have it done for you in time for when the frame is ready."

"Thank you, Abby," she said as they got their food and went to sit down at a table.

"Jenny, are you sure that Gibbs will not mind this?" Ziva asked, taking a drink of the soda she'd gotten. "I mean, he has kept this album private and has only shown it to you obviously. I just do not want to see him get mad at you for doing this."

"Ziva, I appreciate the concern," she replied sincerely-all three women knowing just how sensitive the subject of Kelly was to Gibbs. "He's changed a lot since he found out I am pregnant. He's been a lot more open about what Kelly was like, things they used to do together that he wants to be able to do with Sophia as well."

"All right then."

"Okay, let's shop some more," Abby said, wanting to get their spirits back to a happy place. "I've got a little sister-niece-Jibblet to spoil.

****NCIS****

Gibbs, Tony, McGee and Jimmy had been painting the nursery and moving up some of the furniture that Gibbs had already finished. They were just about to take a break when Tony looked over at Gibbs.

"You nervous about being a dad again, Boss?" he asked.

"Nothing to be nervous about, DiNozzo," he replied, sliding the rocker over beside the window so Jenny would be able to sit in the sunlight as she was nursing.

"Were you nervous with Kelly?" Jimmy asked dumbly, as Tony and McGee both looked at him like he was nuts.

"DiNozzo, stop looking at him like that," Gibbs grumbled, smacking him on the back of the head. "He's allowed to ask."

"Sorry, boss. It's just I don't think any of us have ever heard you talk about Kelly, at least willingly."

Gibbs leaned against the crib, that was still situated in the middle of the room while they were waiting for the paint to finish drying, and let out a faint chuckle. "The first time Shannon left me alone with her, I had no idea what I was doing really. I had been away at sniper training when she was born-the corps wouldn't let me leave to come home. So Kelly was already two months old when I first got to see her and hold her. Shannon had some appointment for something, and she left Kelly with me. I had no clue really what she wanted whenever she cried. Hell, this was maybe the third day I had been home. I remember by the time Shannon had gotten back here, there were maybe four diapers left-when we had almost an entire bag-and there were various outfits strewn about."

"Wow boss. What did Shannon say when she got back?" McGee asked, as they were all sort of in shock that Gibbs was even talking about this.

"Swore she would never leave Kelly alone with me again," he replied with a laugh-letting the three men see just how much Gibbs' family meant to him.

"So my little Autopsy Gremlin, are you and Breena having a baby?" Tony asked, looking at him with a Cheshire cat grin.

"We've been talking about it," Jimmy replied. "I have to say it makes me feel a little better that even Gibbs was nervous when he was left alone with Kelly."

"I think no matter how tough and grumbly a person is, the first time they're left alone with a child, it'll make you a nervous wreck," Tony laughed, having been nervous when he watched Coop for his sister-and he had Ziva there with him.

"Is Jenny bringing the girls back here?" Gibbs asked, not sure if he should go ahead and order some pizzas for them all-or if Ziva and Abby were going to be dropped off elsewhere.

"I think Ziva said something about coming back here with Jenny, so I told her I'd just stay and wait for her, so you don't have to bring her back to the apartment," he said, heading toward the door. "Gremlin and I will go pick up the pizzas and beer if you want to order it now, boss."

"Fine Tony," he replied, as they all headed downstairs to order and wait for the girls to get there.

Watching the guys leave the room, Gibbs allowed his memory to return to the exact day that he'd told them about. He remembered the look on Shannon's face when she walked in the house and saw the living room in a disaster—and he couldn't help the smile that crossed his face as he thought about the new little life that he and Jenny would be bringing into the house in just under three more months.


	20. Little Orphan Abby

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario. I also don't own the book 'What to Expect When You're Expecting'.

A/N: Thanks to everyone for being patient while I'm working on getting more chapters done. Real life has been hectic lately, not leaving me much free time to write. I am also working on the next chapter for Accidentally in Love as well.

****NCIS****

Gibbs went over to Ducky's to check on him, while Jenny stayed at home trying to get over a cold. She was sitting in the kitchen, reading a chapter of 'What to Expect When You're Expecting.' She didn't want to take a chance of possibly getting him sick. She had also let what Abby and Ziva said to her make her rethink her present idea for him. Would he get mad at her for going through the pictures to get a copy to Abby to put in the frame? Sure, he had been more open with her about Kelly and Shannon, but there was still that big part of him that was really private. Maybe if she broached the subject with him, he might tell her what he thought of it. Then if he reacted badly, she would just get the frame and not give it to him. She wouldn't be able to cancel the order, since it was being engraved, but the possibility of holding onto it until she thought he'd appreciate the gift sounded like a good idea as well.

"Jenny!" Ziva called out as she and Tony walked in the front door.

"In the kitchen."

Joining her there, Tony saw the drained look on Jenny's face. Everything that had happened the last few months seemed to be catching up with her. Gibbs had told them that she was getting over a cold and asked them to stop by to check on her. She would adamantly tell him that she was fine, but for some reason he wasn't completely sure she was telling the truth. "You okay, Jenny?"

"Jethro couldn't go away for a couple hours without sending the Calvary over to check on me?" she asked jokingly, but a small part of her was serious.

"He's just worried about you and the baby," Ziva answered, knowing that Tony was sort of taken aback by her brazen question. "He didn't know how long he was going to be with Ducky. He ended up taking him to his doctor's appointment, so he asked if we would stop by and see if you needed anything since you are supposed to be taking it easy."

"I am fine, Ziva," she said.

"All right then."

****NCIS****

Gibbs had been sitting in the waiting room of Ducky's doctor's office for a while. They had to do a few more tests on him, as well as his OT appointment that morning. His speech was getting better, and he was able to do more on his own. His doctors said that by Thanksgiving he should be back to being able to live on his own. Gibbs figured that Tony and Ziva were at his house, and he had no doubt in his mind that Jenny was now irritated at him for sending them over. It was a small price to pay he thought. He hadn't planned on being gone this long. The regular nurse who took Ducky to his appointments hadn't been able to make it, so he offered to drive his friend. He was worried about Jenny's mental state. She hadn't said much about Harper Dearing since he'd rescued her from his office building. Sec-Nav had informed all of them that a crisis counselor would be coming in to speak with them about the attack and the immediate aftermath. He found it a little strange that they were doing so four months AFTER the attack. Of course shrinks never made much sense to him, the way they operate and such.

****NCIS****

Abby had been sitting alone in her apartment-McGee had gone to meet Sarah for lunch, and she didn't feel like going. After being there by herself for a while, she was starting to have second thoughts. This had been the longest she'd been alone since the attack. To her, it seemed like everyone else was moving on with their lives while she was stuck in a dark pit. She hadn't been bowling with the nuns for a while; she didn't feel that they could keep her safe. She had constantly been around McGee and Tony-she'd not really been around Gibbs, as he had his hands full with Jenny and their baby. She was excited that they were getting married and having a family, but she felt a little left out. There was an irrational part of her that worried Gibbs wouldn't love her anymore, that their extended family would somehow be broken. She realized it was an irrational fear, but when she was alone like she was, that was all she could think about. What would happen if McGee had died that day? Tony and Ziva seemed to be slowly moving toward having a real relationship. Gibbs and Jenny were engaged and little baby Sophia would be joining them in no time. Jimmy and Breena were still in the newlywed stage of their lives. She would be alone; of course she still had Luca and his family, but it was just that-his family. She was just wacky Aunt Abby that would send cool birthday and Christmas presents. Going into her room, she grabbed her suitcase and started packing stuff in it. If she left now and got a flight, she'd reach New Orleans before nightfall. She scribbled a quick note to McGee to let him know that she was okay and just needed to get away for a while. She would call him later and let him know she arrived to her destination safely. She headed down to her Deuce Coupe and tossed her suitcase in before heading toward the airport.

Almost ten minutes after Abby left, McGee got back to the apartment and called out her name. Not getting a response, he looked around worriedly. His gaze fell onto a piece of paper, and he saw his name at the top.

'_Timmy-  
I need to get away from DC and these bad memories for a while. I promise I will call you when I get to where I'm going. Please don't trace my call when I do call you. I will be okay, and I will be safe. Love you._

_Love,  
Abby' _

"Oh crap," he muttered, as he quickly pulled out his phone to call Gibbs.

"Yeah, Gibbs," he answered, as he was driving Ducky home. He needed to go to the store and get some Sprite for Jenny too.

"Boss, we've got a problem."

****NCIS****

Tony had been upstairs at Gibbs' house showing Ziva the work that they had done over the weekend to make it look more like a room for a princess, when his phone started to ring. "DiNozzo," he said, not really looking at the caller ID before he answered.

"DiNozzo, you and Ziva get to Abby's apartment now," Gibbs barked, making Tony's heart drop down to his stomach.

"Boss, is she…." he couldn't quite finish before Gibbs interrupted him.

"She's gone, Tony. She packed her stuff and left McGee a letter saying she'd call when she got to wherever the hell she's going," he grumbled, as he was heading toward Washington Dulles Airport, hoping to be able to locate her. He had a small idea of where she would be going, so he just needed to find the right airline that had her flight to New Orleans. "Take Jenny with you. I don't want her worrying about what's going on if she's there by herself."

"All right boss," he replied, his worry instantly growing as he wondered where Abby was.

Watching Tony with apprehension, Ziva wondered what Gibbs had said to cause him to pale as he did. "What is wrong?"

Looking up at her, Tony put his phone back in his pocket and muttered. "Abby's gone. She left a letter to McGee saying she'd call when she got to wherever, but she's gone."

"How could she be so stupid?" she mumbled softly, shaking her head.

"What did you say?" Tony asked, as they both walked back downstairs to tell Jenny.

"I asked how she could be so stupid," she replied, as they got into the living room. "Jenny, we need to go."

"All right, I'll see you guys later," Jenny said, leading them to the door.

"Gibbs wants you to come with us," Tony said, the look on his face one of worry.

Looking at both her agents questioningly, she knew that something bad had to have happened. She could only hope that nothing had happened to Gibbs; she wasn't sure how much more stress she could handle. The look on Tony's face when he said that didn't help lessen the knot forming in her stomach that something had indeed happened to her fiancé, the father of her child, the man she loved more than life itself. "Did something happen to Jethro?" she asked, blurting out the question.

"Abby has disappeared," Ziva said, seeing that Tony was not able to answer her. "She left a note for McGee and said she would call when she gets to wherever, but that she had to get away from here for a while."

"We need to get to the apartment," Tony replied, handing Jenny her purse and phone. "Gibbs is out looking for her right now."

"Well, let's go," she said, taking her things and walking out to Tony's car.

****NCIS****

Abby had been sitting in the airport waiting for her flight to be called. In her hasty exit from her apartment, she'd grabbed the wrong iPod. She had recently bought one for Jenny and was in the process of filling it with soothing songs she could listen to while she was relaxing at home. There were also some lullabies on there for after Sophia was born. So now she was stuck without her music and listening to Brahm's lullaby. She had also filled the picture albums with random photos of the team, so that Sophia could see them. Grumbling under her breath, she reached up and wiped away the renegade tears that kept falling.

Unbeknownst to Abby, Gibbs had been standing off to the side watching her. He could see that she was clearly not herself, her usual pigtails were gone and her hair hung limp on her shoulders. Seeing her reach up and wipe at her face made him finally move away from his perch against the wall. Walking over to the seats, he sat down beside her quietly-not wanting to completely startle her. "Hey Abs," he said, putting a gentle hand on her shoulder.

Jumping slightly at the shock, she looked up at him in slight confusion. She had turned her phone off, so she wasn't electronically traceable. "How'd you know where I was?" she asked, reaching up and wiping her eyes off with her jacket sleeve.

"I didn't," he replied, shaking his head. "Well, not entirely. I knew you would most likely be going back home, just didn't know which airline you were taking."

"I have to get away from Washington."

"Understandable, as long as you promise you will come back," he said, not wanting to force her to stay. "However, you know that you can't run away from your nightmares, right?"

"It's not just the nightmares, Gibbs," she sighed, as she got up and started pacing in front of him. "I realized something since that day, maybe even before that. I don't know who my family is Gibbs. Luca doesn't even know I'm adopted. Kyle doesn't know we're biological siblings."

"So tell Kyle that you are his sister, Abs," he said gently. "Luca will still love you no matter if you are blood or not."

"It's not just that either, Gibbs," she sighed exasperatedly. "You and the director are getting married and having your own family, which I'm really happy for you guys. You both deserve to be happy, and I know that. Tony and Ziva are slowly but surely moving closer together, and he's got this long-lost sister he never knew about. McGee has Sarah and Penny. Jimmy's married now and Ducky, well okay Ducky is the only other one without family. It's just hard Gibbs. I could have lost any or all of you that day, then where would I be?"

"Abby, you've still got all of us," he said, getting up and hugging her tightly. "We're your family too, just like Kyle and Luca. Blood or not, we've been through hell and back together. We are all worried about you. We just want you to be okay again. If that means taking a trip back to New Orleans and spending time with Luca and your nieces, then you should do it. However, when you come back home you will be with more family. Never feel like you are alone and don't have anyone, because it is just not true."

"Thanks Gibbs," she replied tearfully, as her flight was called over the speaker. "I'll be back home on Sunday. I just need to go visit Luca and get my head on straight. Tell McGee that I'm sorry about the note; I just didn't want him to feel like he had to come with me."

Reaching up and wiping the tears from her eyes, Gibbs leaned in and kissed her on the forehead gently. "He understands. I'll see you when you get back."

Nodding her head gently, she grabbed her carry-on and headed toward the gate. Handing the woman her ticket, she turned back around and waved to Gibbs faintly, before disappearing behind the door.

Walking back to the entrance, Gibbs could only hope that Abby was able to find the peace and comfort she needed in this trip back to her hometown.


	21. Returning to normal?

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: I apologize for my lack of updates for this story. I have just been busy with work and trying to get ready for the holidays. I am currently working on the next chapter of Accidentally in Love, so hoping to have it up after Christmas and before New Years. Thanks to JibbsGal1 for kicking my butt into gear, otherwise this chapter probably still wouldn't be done. On that note, I hope everyone has a safe and happy holiday.

****NCIS****

A week later, Gibbs and Jenny were sitting at her doctor's appointment, waiting to be called back. "Have you heard from Abby?" Jenny asked, her foot shaking lightly in boredom.

"Yeah, her flight gets in this afternoon," he replied, looking over at her before adding, "She's supposed to go talk to Kyle after she leaves the airport."

"Did she tell Luca that she was adopted?" she pressed, having not wanted to eavesdrop on his conversation with her the night before. She had already been in bed and asleep before he got off the phone. "Does she sound any better than she did before she left?"

Squeezing her hand lightly he nodded. "Yeah, she said he seemed okay with it. That she would always be his sister, blood or not, it wasn't going to change things," he said, pausing there before saying his next thought. "Which is what I have tried to tell her since she found out last year she was adopted."

She laid her head on his shoulder and took his hand in hers before she spoke again. "Sometimes hearing it from someone else doesn't make it easy for one to believe. You could sit there and say it till you're blue in the face, but she needed to hear it from Luca."

"You're right. I just hated seeing this stifling her for a year," he grumbled lightly. "To answer your other question, she does sound somewhat better. I don't know if it's because she was home with her brother and nieces, or if when that plane touches down here that she'll be back to our old Abbs."

Before Jenny could reply, the nurse came out and called her name. "I know you hate admitting I'm right," she chuckled standing up and grabbing her purse off the chair beside her. "Now let's go see how our other little girl is doing."

****NCIS****

Once Abby arrived back in D.C., she went to her car and put her bags in. She headed toward the pet store where she had found Kyle last year. Her mind was swimming with everything she wanted to tell him and to ask. She wondered if he had been put up for adoption as well, or if he was still with their biological parents. She was at least satisfied with knowing that she still had one brother in her life, that Luca didn't turn his back on her. She was still a little nervous about Kyle. She could only hope that he would be just a little bit excited to meet her. Walking into the pet store, she waited for who she thought was Kyle to turn around from grooming a dog. When he did, she was disappointed to see it wasn't her brother. Taking it as a sign that it just wasn't meant to be, she mumbled something to the worker as she turned and walked out of the store. She had gotten to the corner when she heard someone calling after her. Turning around, she looked up and saw Kyle staring back at her.

After spending almost the entire afternoon with him, telling him that she was his sister and finding out what things he did know about their biological parents, it quickly became a monumental day for her. Telling Kyle she wanted him to meet her NCIS family, they started out going to Gibbs and Jenny's house. Walking inside, Abby was excitedly calling out for him. "Gibbs! Gibbs!"

"What's going on Abbs?" he asked as he and Jenny walked in from the kitchen.

"I stopped and talked to Kyle on my way home today," she answered hurriedly, as the front door opened again and Kyle walked in behind Abby. "Kyle, this is him. This is Leroy Jethro Gibbs, the guy I was telling you about. This is his fiancée, Director Jenny Shepard. Guys, this is my brother Kyle."

"Nice to meet you Kyle," Gibbs said, extending his hand out to shake. Instead of shaking his hand, Kyle engulfed him in a big bear hug.

"Who knew hugs were in my blood," Abby said, smiling over at Jenny.

"Well I'm glad you finally went and talked to him Abby," she said, giving her a gentle hug.

"Thanks," she replied, her smile never leaving her face.

****NCIS****

The next month seemed to fly by for everyone on the team as they were all starting to go back to work after the bombing. Ducky's recovery was going well, and he was almost cleared to return-working on light duty orders, which meant that Jimmy would still be the lead examiner at least for a little while longer. Ziva still had a few weeks left before she was allowed to return, so Gibbs had her staying at the house with Jenny while he was working. She was upstairs helping Jenny put away some of the clothes that Abby had already bought for the baby, when Jenny let out a small gasp.

"Jenny, are you all right?" she asked, hearing the sound and looking at her friend in concern.

"I think I just had a contraction," she replied, the panic evident in her voice since she was only at thirty-three and a half weeks.

Sensing the worry radiating from Jenny, Ziva helped her out of the room and downstairs to the couch. Helping her to get situated and comfortable, she grabbed the phone from her pocket and headed out toward the kitchen. "I am going to call Gibbs," she yelled out, as she was already finding his number and calling him.

"Yeah Ziver," he answered, seeing Ziva's name come up on the screen.

"Jenny thinks she has had a contraction, she looks really pale and sweaty," she said, a hint of worry in her voice that she tried not to show around her friend. "I am not sure if she has got a touch of that stomach bug that is going around or what."

Before Gibbs could even process what he had heard Ziva say, he heard Jenny let out a painful anguished cry. "Get her to the hospital Ziva, now," he ordered, hanging up the phone. Grabbing his things, he ran out of the office-Tony and McGee looking on worriedly.

"Jenny, come on I need to get you to the hospital," Ziva said, going back into the living room. "Gibbs will meet us there."

Getting up from the couch slowly, Jenny felt a few tears leaking from her eyes. "I can't lose this baby, Ziva. It won't kill just me, but I don't think Jethro will ever be the same again."

"Jennifer Shepard listen to me," she said sternly, grabbing her keys off the table. "You are NOT losing this baby. This child has two of the most stubborn parents I have ever known in my life. There will be no way that you will lose her, do you understand me?"

"If I wasn't so freaked out right now, I'd laugh at that," she said, letting Ziva lead her out to the car. "For the record though, Jethro is more stubborn than I am."

****NCIS****

By the time Jenny and Ziva arrived at the hospital, Gibbs was already wearing a hole in the floor around the nurses desk on the maternity floor. "Jethro, you're pacing," Jenny said, unable to help the painful chuckle that escaped.

"Yeah, well when Ziva calls and says she thinks you're in labor, and you're nine and a half weeks early-it has me a little concerned," he grumbled lightly, helping her get into a wheelchair. "They've got a room ready for you. Apparently when dads are pacing, they get to fill out papers to make them stand still."

"If this was not such a serious situation, I would be taking pictures," Ziva chuckled lightly, unused to seeing Gibbs behaving the way he was.

"No you wouldn't, Ziva," he replied, glaring at her as an orderly started taking Jenny down to the labor room. "Go call DiNozzo and McGee, let them know what's going on and to keep working on the case. I'll let you guys know if anything happens."

"Are you sure, Gibbs?" she asked, looking at him questioningly. "You know once Abby finds out, she will not stay away."

"That's why you tell them not to let Abby know anything is going on," he said, pulling her into a quick hug.

"All right," she replied, returning his hug. "Call me once you know something."

"I will," he said, turning to go into the room. "Thanks for being there today, Ziva."

"You are welcome."

Gibbs walked into the labor room they had put Jenny in and watched as they were hooking her up to a fetal heart monitor and an IV to administer something. Taking his jacket and tossing it over the chair, he looked at the nurse who was shooting something into the IV. "What are you giving her?" he asked, once he was able to form a coherent thought.

"The doctor ordered Magnesium Sulfate to try and stop the contractions," she replied, looking over at him. "Dr. Miller will be in shortly to talk with you."

After watching the nurse leave the room, Gibbs sat down in the chair beside the bed, grabbing Jenny's hand in his. "Everything is going to be fine, Jen."

"You don't know that," she replied, gritting her teeth as another small contraction hit her. "What if they can't stop the labor?"

"You just need to stay positive, Jen. We've got the best doctors here in this hospital."

"Do you really think that Abby is going to let Ziva stop her from getting here?" she asked jokingly, having heard Gibbs telling Ziva to tell the boys not to say anything to Abby. "The girl has some sort of homing signal on you; I'm sure she knew you were here before Ziva and I got here."

"Yeah, I know that by the time this is all said and done, the team will be camping out in the waiting room. Ducky and Palmer included."

Before Jenny could reply, a knock came on the door as her doctor had arrived. Looking her over and making sure that the magnesium had been administered, she told the worried soon-to-be new parents that all they could do was wait.

"How soon should this stuff start kicking in?" Jenny asked.

"I will be by here to check on you again in a half hour. If the contractions get worse before then, have them page me. We will see where we are in thirty minutes. We will want to keep you overnight for observation, but if things look good tomorrow afternoon, I don't see why you couldn't go home then."

Nodding her head lightly, she let what the doctor told her process in her mind. Realizing then that their daughter could be in real danger, she allowed the hormones to take over and she started crying.

"It's going to be okay, Jen," Gibbs said, hugging her to him gently. "You're going to be fine, Sophia is going to be fine. We'll get to go home, and she will be born when she's supposed to be."

"I know," she mumbled, practically forcing him to sit on the bed beside her. "I think I'm going to try and get some sleep. The contractions are easing up now."

"All right," he replied, as he continued to hold her, saying a silent prayer that Jenny and their little girl were both going to be okay and make it through this.


	22. Sophia Anne Gibbs

Disclaimer: I don't own anyone. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario and company.

A/N: Sorry for the long wait on an update. I was sick for most of January and didn't really start feeling better till around Valentine's Day. Then I switched Internet providers and the Internet didn't work on my computer so it's been a struggle to get this to my beta and posted. Hopefully things start going better soon. Thank you all for being patient with me.

****NCIS****

Gibbs had been sitting beside Jenny's bed all night, keeping a constant vigil and watching the fetal monitor they had hooked up to her. She had managed to sleep off and on throughout the night, even with the doctors coming in and checking her constantly.

His mind was constantly sending him to the negative thinking. What would happen if their daughter died? He knew he wouldn't be able to handle losing another child. The pain of losing Kelly was still hard and there were days it seemed like it was just the day before when he was told that he would never see his little girl again. Now it seemed as if fate was attempting to play a cruel joke on him, giving him the chance to be a father again with the first woman that he loved, since losing Shannon; only to possibly take that precious life away. He was trying to keep his fears at bay, so Jenny wouldn't get anxious and possibly cause the baby's heart to go into distress. He wondered to himself that if the worst did happen, and they lost Sophia, would he and Jenny survive the loss as a couple. He was pretty sure that Jenny would blame herself, even though it wouldn't be her fault.

Deciding to go get himself a cup of coffee and to call Ziva to give her an update, and to hopefully get himself back into a positive thinking place, he placed a soft kiss to the top of Jenny's head and headed out toward the cafeteria. Pulling his phone out of his pocket, he found Ziva's number and hit send.

"Gibbs, how is Jenny?" Ziva asked, seeing his name appear on the screen. "How is Sophia?"

"Jenny is fine. They've managed to keep the contractions from coming anymore. They think that if she stays like this, that she will be able to come home this afternoon sometime."

"Good, Tony and McGee are already at NCIS. Did you want me to call and let them know? Or would you like to call them?" she asked. She was getting rather bored just sitting there, so she may drive over and surprise them all.

Before Gibbs could reply, there was a frantic page over the intercom. "Dr. Miller to Labor and Delivery 3 STAT!" the nurse's voice called out in urgency. Gibbs eyes went wide, and he rushed out of the cafeteria without his coffee.

"Damn it, that's Jenny's room," he said, before all but hanging up on Ziva. Rushing back into the room, he looked from Jenny to the doctor wildly. "What's going on?"

"Mr. Gibbs, it appears that Jenny's water has broken and we need to get into delivery now. The baby's heart appears to be in distress, and we are going to go in for a Cesarean section," Dr. Miller explained as they were rushing Jenny out of the room and down to the operating room.

"Jethro, I'm scared," Jenny said, for once letting him see the fear and vulnerability in her eyes.

"It's going to be all right, Jen. Nothing is going to happen to you or our baby," he said, grabbing her hand in his. "I promise."

By the time they made it to the delivery room, they had just about everything ready and prepped, to get the baby out of Jenny as quickly and safely as possible. "All right, Jenny, we can have the baby out in less than sixty seconds if need be. I know you wanted to try for a natural birth, and while your water did break, I'm afraid to let you try and start pushing. When we get her out, she will be taken to the NICU as a precaution. Now let's get you ready," Dr. Miller said. They had Gibbs get into a pair of scrubs and told him to stay up beside Jenny's head and to not look over the curtain partition they had set up.

"Well it's a good thing I had DiNozzo and McGee over last weekend to help finish getting the nursery ready," Gibbs said, trying to help keep Jenny in a positive mood, especially with knowing and hearing that their daughter's heart was in distress.

Nodding her head lightly, Jenny let the tears that she'd been fighting back since the day before, right after they'd administered the medicine to stop the labor, fall. It was like she had told Ziva on their way to the hospital. She didn't know if they as a couple could withstand the loss of their baby. She wasn't sure if he could bear the thought of losing another daughter. She was aware of Dr. Miller talking around her, but she couldn't tell what she was saying exactly. Gripping Gibbs' hand in hers tightly, she tried to take as many calming breaths as she could, but it wasn't helping her any. Before she even realized it, she'd heard the faint sounds of her little girl's cry.

"Jethro is she okay?" she asked tearfully, hoping that he would be able to tell. "I mean, she's crying so that has to be a good thing, right?"

"Dr. Miller, that is a good sign, right?" Gibbs asked, turning the question to the doctor.

"Yes, but at the same time I don't want you to get your hopes up. Her lungs still haven't fully developed, she will be placed on a ventilator until they show enough improvement that she can be taken off the machine," she said. "Right now the best thing we can do is pray. We will do everything medically possible for your daughter. However, the rest is going to be up to her. If she's got the will to fight in her, then she should pull through this."

"Thanks," he muttered, as he went to stand back beside Jenny. Before he could ask her anything, the nurse walked over and interrupted them quietly.

"Excuse me, but do you have a name picked out for your daughter?" she asked gently, wanting to get the birth certificate filled out and needing to know something to put on her incubator.

"Sophia Anne Gibbs," Jenny replied softly. They had decided to give their daughter his mom's name. She knew that his mom had been a special woman in his life, and her death had shaken him to the very core. He never really spoke about her, but they had been lying in bed one night, after they'd found out they were having a girl, trying to set the name in stone. She'd asked him about giving Sophia his mom's name for her middle name. That night was the first time she'd really heard him talk about his mom in a lot of detail. She knew a little bit from their weekend up in Stillwater, but it hadn't been anything like that night.

"Thank you," the woman said, as she headed out of the room to fill out the paperwork.

****NCIS****

Once Jenny had gotten stitched and cleaned up from the delivery, they took her down to her new room. She had been trying to get comfortable in her bed when Gibbs walked in, having gone to the nurses' station and retrieved their things that had been in the labor and birthing room. "How are you feeling?" he asked, going over and kissing her softly.

"I didn't even get to see her Jethro," she said, as the tears just started falling again. "They whisked her away without even showing her to me."

"I'm sure that once they get her settled, and you take a nap maybe, we can take a little fieldtrip down to the NICU and see her," he said, taking her hand in his. "Do you want me to call everyone and tell them?" he asked, not wanting to overwhelm her.

Looking down at their joined hands, she nodded lightly. "You can call them if you want. Just tell them I don't feel up to having visitors right now, and that I don't want them to see her before I get a chance to."

Thinking it over a bit, he nodded before replying. "I think I'll wait a while. God knows that Abby will drive them all crazy wanting to come up here to see you and Sophia."

"Can you go see if I can go down to see Sophia now?" she asked, looking at him rather impatiently. "I will let you push me down there in a wheelchair."

Nodding his head lightly, he leaned down and kissed her before standing up to leave again. "I'll be right back," he said as he headed toward the door.

****NCIS****

Abby had been pacing around the bullpen practically since she had heard that Gibbs left abruptly in the middle of a case. She had tried calling his cell as well as Jenny's and not getting an answer from either of them. She was just about to try and ping their phones, when Ziva walked into the squad room.

"Abby, what is the matter with you?" she asked, seeing the woman pacing and biting her nails worriedly.

"Gibbs flew out of here like a bat out of hell. He and Jenny aren't answering their phones, and I just know that something is wrong," she said, looking up at Ziva pointedly. "You were staying with Jenny while Gibbs works, so what's going on?"

Thinking over her words carefully, she was trying to decide the best way to tell Abby without betraying Gibbs and Jenny's wishes that the team not know what's going on, especially when she didn't know all the details. "Jenny was just not feeling well and so when I was talking to Gibbs, she all but demanded that he come home," Ziva lied, hoping that it was believable enough for Abby and the others so that they wouldn't be asking her more questions. "I'm sure Gibbs will call us all soon, barking orders and all."

"Okay," she answered, going over and sitting down at Gibbs' desk, waiting a little more patiently for a phone call from their 'father.'

****NCIS****

After getting the okay for Jenny to go down to the NICU to see their daughter, Gibbs pushed the wheelchair into the room and helped Jenny into the seat. "The doctor said that we can go into the nursery and see her. We won't be able to hold her, but we can reach in and touch her," he explained, as he pushed her out of the room and down to the elevator.

"All right," she mumbled, beating herself up in her mind for what she considered a failure.

"Jen, are you okay?" he asked, as they waited for the elevator to get to their floor. "Do you want to go see Sophia now?"

"Yes, Jethro, I'm fine," she replied, looking up at him and hoping that her eye wouldn't twitch. "I'm just a little tired, but I want to see my little girl before I go to sleep."

Kneeling down in front of her chair, Gibbs made her look him in the eye. "Try telling that to someone that doesn't know you as well as I do," he said, taking her hands in his. "What's really going through your mind, Jen?"

"I just feel like this is my fault that she's here early," she said, as she started crying almost hysterically. "Damn hormones."

"This is not your fault, do you understand me?" he asked, grabbing her hands in his. "Dr. Miller does not think that Sophia being born this early was that hurtful for her. She just needs to be monitored a little bit until she can completely breathe on her own. Babies are born early like this all the time and do just fine. We have her at the best hospital in D.C.; she will be getting the best care that anyone can provide."

Smiling and laughing softly through her tears, she leaned forward and kissed him lightly. "Boy, when you go on a tangent, you can actually say more than a few monosyllabic words," she said, sitting back in her chair and wiping the remaining tears off her face. "I get what you're saying though. I was just letting my fears get to me."

"I know," he replied, as the elevator dinged. He stood back up and pushed Jenny into the car. Hitting the button for the NICU floor, he leaned back against the wall with a smirk, because he knew that if their daughter is anything like her mother, then she will be more than fine.

****NCIS****

By the time they got into the NICU nursery, Jenny was definitely in better spirits about seeing their daughter. Reaching in the incubator and stroking her little hand, she smiled as tears of happiness shown in her eyes. She saw Sophia turn her head slightly toward her touch.

"Ah, so you guys are the parents of this adorable little girl," a friendly nurse said, as she walked over to Jenny and Gibbs. "I'm Nurse Adams; I'll be your daughter's nurse for the next thirty-six hours. Then I'll be back again on Saturday afternoon."

"Yes, we are," Gibbs replied, his guard up a bit around the woman.

"Well, I can tell you that she weighed in at four pounds seven and a half ounces. Now while that's not too terribly uncommon, we do like to see newborns a little bit bigger before we move them up to the regular nursery. Newborns, especially preemies, tend to lose ounces after they're born. So we'll be monitoring her weight as well as her lung function while she's in here. Right now she doesn't seem to be showing signs of Jaundice, which is a good thing. Once the doctor determines it's safe to remove her from the respirator, then you can breastfeed her if you'd like, Mrs. Gibbs," the nurse explained, giving the new parents all the information she had on Sophia's condition.

"Do you think she'll be on the respirator for a long time?" Jenny asked, not correcting the nurse's assumption that she and Gibbs were married. They were engaged, it was just a matter of a couple more months and they would legally be married.

"I can't really answer that for you. That's something you'll need to discuss with Dr. Miller," she replied.

"You probably don't know when we'd be able to hold her?" she asked, hoping that she wouldn't be losing out on the mother/daughter bonding that all the books talked about being important to establish in those precious first few months of her life.

"No I can't, sorry," she replied, hating not having more answers for the new parents.

"Okay, thank you for the information," Jenny said, as she went back to looking at her little girl. Once the nurse had gone back to her desk in the room, she turned and looked up at Gibbs. "You might want to call the team now. I'm sure that Ziva isn't going to be able to ward off Abby's questions much longer."

"Are you sure?" he asked, knowing that they would all want to come up to the hospital and see Sophia. "I don't want them to overwhelm you."

"Good Lord, Jethro, I'm the director of a federal agency. You think that six people coming up to see our daughter will overwhelm me?" she asked incredulously.

"I'm just trying to think of you," he replied, shaking his head.

"Just call them," she laughed, as he leaned down and kissed her lightly before going over and asking the nurse if he could use his phone in the nursery. Getting the veto on that, he signaled to Jenny that he was stepping out into the hall to call the team.

Leaving Jenny alone, it gave her time to sit and stare at, in her biased opinion, the most perfect little girl she'd ever seen in her life. She knew in that instant that she would give up her own life to keep her little girl safe. She couldn't wait to do with her everything that she did with her mom, before she had lost her - tea parties, baking with her. 'Okay Jen, maybe not baking,' she thought with a chuckle. Taking her to see the ballet, dressing her up in all kinds of cute little outfits, picnics in the summer. She knew of course that Gibbs would spend a lot of time with her in the basement working on a new boat. She knew he had done that with Kelly, and he looked forward to doing that with Sophia. There were a lot of things that Jenny couldn't wait to do, but she would also cherish all the little moments that they would have now. She was by no means anxious for their little miracle to grow up, just so they can play tea party or go see a ballet. She definitely felt better after actually getting to see her little girl, and also from talking to the nurse and finding out that for the most part Sophia was doing great.

"Ziva and the others will be up here soon," Gibbs said, walking back into the nursery; startling Jenny slightly. "You okay?"

"Yeah, I'm fine; just thinking about the future with our daughter," she replied, looking up at him. "We got incredibly lucky Jethro."

"Yeah, I have to admit, I let myself get to a scary place before she was born and they said she'd be okay," he admitted, sitting down on a stool next to the incubator and Jenny. "I knew I had to be strong for you, cause the last thing we needed was for your blood pressure to spike or anything, to put Sophie in more danger, but the possibility of losing another daughter scared me to death."

"Jethro," she whispered, reaching over and taking his hand in hers gently. "You didn't have to be strong for me alone. Although I have to admit, I was scared of the same thing. I told Ziva on our way here that I wasn't sure if you could handle losing another child. I mean, I know I would have been devastated; but I have never been in that position before. I was scared of what you would have tried to do had that happened."

Squeezing her fingers lightly, he whispered, "They weren't pretty thoughts."

"Let's promise each other now, that no matter what is going on or what happens, we don't close off from each other," she said, watching as he looked at their baby girl lovingly. "I hate that you felt like you had to suffer alone in your fears. We've come so far in this relationship now, that I would hate to see something like this tear us apart."

"Deal," he whispered, leaning over and kissing her gently, as he kept his hand inside the incubator on his newest love of his life.


	23. Meeting Sophia and Coming Home

Disclaimer: Anyone you recognize, I do not own. They are all owned by Donald Bellisario.

A/N: Just to let you all know, I have posted another Jibbs story called Surviving Judgement Day that will have a few more chapters added to it. I also posted a one-shot tag, Chimera. Feel free to give them a look. :)

****NCIS****

Almost like Jenny had predicted, the team practically rushed out of the elevator and up to where Gibbs and Jenny were waiting outside the NICU nursery, when they heard them coming down the hallway. Of course the most anxious one of them had to be held down by McGee, so she wouldn't go rushing at Jenny in a hug.

"Where is she?" Abby asked, looking between Gibbs and Jenny impatiently. "Can we see her?"

Walking over and hugging Abby gently, hoping to get her calmed down, Gibbs answered. "She's back here in the NICU for a while. They need to get her lungs working on their own a little bit more," he said, as he could hear the team all taking a collective gasp. "She's doing great though, she may only be there for a couple weeks or so."

"Yeah, we talked to her doctor before we came back out here," Jenny said, looking at all of them. "She said that if Sophia keeps improving the way she is already, then she'll be off the respirator in no time. They want to keep her in the NICU and make sure that her weight continues to go up. She weighed only four pounds seven and a half ounces. They said that sometimes after birth, babies tend to lose weight and she is already below five pounds, they want keep her in NICU and won't release her."

Looking at Gibbs and Jenny worriedly, Abby asked in a soft voice, "She's really okay though, right?"

"Yes, Abs, aside from the lungs still not being fully developed and her weight, everything else was fine," Gibbs replied, kissing the side of her head lightly. "We can go in and see her, but only two people can be in the NICU at one time."

"Well, I want to see her first," Abby said emphatically, daring anyone to tell her she couldn't.

"I will go with you Abby," Ziva said, looking over at her.

"We can all go in and see her; there's a waiting room here just outside the NICU doors," Jenny said, as Gibbs helped her out of the chair so she could go over and hug Abby properly. "We'll stay in the waiting room; Jethro will have to walk back with you so the nurse knows that you're not there to steal Sophia."

"Let's go then," Tony said, anxious to see the baby as well.

****NCIS****

"Are you allowed to hold her yet?" Abby asked, as Gibbs walked her and Ziva back to the nursery.

"No, she's got to stay in the incubator until she comes off the respirator."

"How are you doing really?" Ziva asked, knowing that her boss was most likely putting on a brave front for Jenny.

Looking at the Israeli questioningly, his earlier thoughts and concerns filling his mind, he shook his head before answering. "I'm fine, Ziver. I don't know why you guys keep thinking the worst is happening. Sophia will be fine, she just needs a couple extra weeks of care, if that even."

Getting to the nursery, Gibbs knocked lightly on the door before entering. Introducing Ziva and Abby to Nurse Adams, he told her that they were there to see Sophia and that four other members of his team would be in to see her as well when the girls were done. Getting the green light, and the warning that the guests could not stay longer than ten minutes at a time, Gibbs left and went back out into the waiting room. Once Abby and Ziva were scrubbed up and into the hospital gowns and gloves, they went over to the incubator the nurse had pointed to that held little Sophia.

"Look at her Ziva, she's so tiny," Abby said, gushing over their new Jibblet. "She's going to seem so small in that crib Gibbs made for her."

"Tali was this small when she was born," Ziva said softly, reaching into the side of the incubator and touching the newborn's arm gently. "It was like holding a porcelain doll when Eli and my Ima brought her home. I was so scared I would break her," she said.

"You were actually afraid of something?" Abby asked, unable to help the shocked sound in her voice. "I didn't think you were ever afraid of anything."

Chuckling softly, Ziva moved to allow Abby the chance to touch Sophia. "I do not always show when I am afraid, but most of the time when I am afraid it is for my family," she said quietly. She looked at a few other babies in the nursery, most of whom looked a lot smaller and sicker than the newest Gibbs. "Tali, Ari, when anything would happen to them. The bombing a few months ago. I am just able to hide my emotions well."

"No kidding," she replied, as the nurse told them that their time was up. Walking over to the door, both women took off the gloves and gowns they had on before walking back out to the waiting room.

Gibbs and Jenny were sitting on a couch, talking to Ducky and Jimmy while Abby and Ziva walked back to the nursery with Tony and McGee, getting them settled in to see Sophia.

"Jethro, have you called your dad yet to tell him the good news?" Ducky asked, looking at his old friend questioningly.

"No, I should probably do that," he chuckled lightly, having forgotten to make the call with everything going on.

"Abby and I can drive up to Stillwater and pick him up if he wants to get a ride down here," Ziva said, as she and Abby walked back into the waiting room.

"Ziver, are you sure you feel like riding in a car for that long?" he asked, knowing her knee would inevitably bug her.

"Abby can drive, I will ride shotgun."

"I will ask him; he may just wait and get a flight down here," he replied.

"I can't wait till we get to hold her," Abby said, making the group chuckle lightly at her excitement. "You can tell already she's going to be a heartbreaker when she gets older."

When Jenny heard that, it made her start laughing uncontrollably at the thought, causing Gibbs to look at her in disbelief mainly because he knew why she was laughing. "Lord, I feel sorry for any potential boyfriend she may have. With Jethro as her father, can you just imagine what rifle or shotgun will be sitting next to him when that boy comes and picks her up for a date?"

Picturing that same image, Abby and Ziva both started laughing. "Of course having the director of an armed federal agency as her mother will have to be rough as well," Ziva teased. "You'll probably send your security detail out on dates with her."

"Are you guys going to take her to see Santa this year?" Abby questioned, completely steering the subject off Sophia dating. "I mean, it is her first Christmas. She'll definitely be out of the hospital by then. Maybe not by Halloween, but Thanksgiving for sure."

Wrapping an arm around her shoulders, Gibbs pulled Abby into a gentle hug. "Slow down, Abs. Yes we will most likely take her to see Santa. If the doctors have cleared her that she can go, then we will take her to see him."

"Good, I want to go with you guys. I promise you won't even know that I'm there," she said, laying her head on his shoulder.

"Don't worry Abby, I'm sure we'll make it an NCIS family event," Jenny said, patting her arm lightly.

****NCIS****

The next couple of weeks went by fairly fast, considering Sophia was still in the hospital. Jenny had been released a couple days after having her daughter, but she and Gibbs had not left to go home at all. They were both hoping that their daughter would finally be released from the hospital that day. She had been moved up to the regular nursery the week before; everyone had been thrilled with that progress. Abby even managed to snag a picture the first time she saw Gibbs holding Sophia, so she could get it printed out for the frame Jenny had gotten him. Jackson had come down that same week, and was hoping to be able to still be in D.C. when his new little granddaughter came home. He had already told both Jenny and Gibbs that he would be back for Christmas, but he would have to leave that weekend and get back to the store.

Walking up behind her fiancé after a quick trip to the bathroom, Jenny wrapped her arms around his waist loosely. "Has Dr. Miller been in yet to say if Sophia can leave today?"

"Not yet, the nurse went to go see if she could find her and find out how much longer it will take."

"I think today is going to be the day we get to bring our little girl home finally," she said, seeing their bright blue-eyed little girl looking up at her with such an intense look that it almost shook Jenny to the core.

"It'd be nice to finally have her home," he said, turning and wrapping his arm around her shoulders. Before he could continue however, Dr. Miller walked in.

****NCIS****

Abby and Ziva were busy decorating Gibbs and Jenny's house, wanting to have a 'Welcome Home' party for all of them. Of course they had no idea when exactly the baby was going to be released, but Abby was too anxious to just sit around and do nothing, so she managed to con Ziva and Jack into decorating.

"Abby, what are you going to do if they don't release Sophia today?" Jack asked, walking over to where she was hanging the huge banner she'd made. Ziva was handing her the thumbtacks, since Abby didn't want to let her climb up on the ladder.

"You just have to think positive, Jack," she said, turning her head slightly to look at him. "I believe they are going to let her go home today. She's already up to almost six pounds now, and she's breathing a lot better. If Jenny would have still been pregnant, she'd be thirty-seven weeks and that's more than enough time for her to have developed in the womb."

"Good grief, Abby, do you like document everything about all of us?" Tony asked as he, McGee and Palmer walked into the house carrying pizzas for all of them. They also had a cake that Abby ordered and insisted be picked up that day. "How can you remember that Jenny would be thirty-seven weeks right now if she hadn't had the baby when she did?"

"I remember her actual due date, Tony," she replied sarcastically, talking to him like she would be talking to a child and having to explain stuff slowly to them. "You count back from there."

Before their argument could go any further, Ziva spoke up, looking over at Palmer. "Is someone bringing Ducky over? Or is he driving himself?"

"He was going out for his daily jog and Breena said she'd stop by and pick him up on her way here," he replied as he had talked to Ducky just before Tony picked him up.

Hearing a car pull up into the driveway, the team just assumed that it was Breena arriving with Ducky, so they continued setting up for the party. When the door opened and revealed Gibbs holding a car seat, and Jenny behind him, Jackson was the first to notice them.

"Son, they let you guys come home today," he said, going over and looking down at the tiny bundle that looked dwarfed inside her car seat. "Why didn't you call me?"

"Didn't know all this was going on," he said, as everyone cleared a path for them to walk into the living room. Setting the car seat on the coffee table, Abby and Ziva were the first to go over and gush over the baby.

"Jenny, may I please hold her?" Abby asked, having only had the chance to hold her once and that was the day she managed to get the picture of Gibbs holding her.

"Sure Abby," she replied with a chuckle as she took her coat off. "Let me get her out of her seat."

"All right," she said, going and sitting in the chair, afraid that she may drop her if she didn't. When Jenny leaned down to place Sophia in Abby's waiting arms, Abby leaned up to whisper. "The frame is wrapped and sitting on the kitchen table."

"Thank you," she said, standing back up again. Going and hanging her coat by the door, she walked up to Gibbs and grabbed his hand in hers. "Come here, I got you a present."

"Ah Jen, you know I hate presents," he grumbled lightly, letting her pull him into the kitchen anyway.

"Well, I hope you will like this one," she said, biting her lip nervously. She knew he wouldn't mind the picture of him and Sophia, but she was a little nervous about him seeing the picture of him and Kelly. Sure, he had shown the picture to her willingly, but she didn't know if he would be upset that she went and had Abby make a copy so she could put it in this frame.

Watching him open up the present, she couldn't help but chuckle at the type of paper Abby had chosen to use - baby pink paper with little baby carriages and rattles on it. Once he opened the box and removed the tissue paper, she could have sworn she saw tears appear in his eyes as he read over the frame and saw both his daughters' names inscribed on it and the pictures. "How did you get this?" he asked, wiping at the corners of his eyes.

"I went shopping with Abby and Ziva one day, and I saw the frame," she replied, going and resting her head against his arm as she looked down at the gift. "I got the picture of you and Kelly and had Abby make a copy of it, and she took the picture of you holding Sophia that day when the team got to hold her finally. I hope you're not mad at me for taking the picture of you and Kelly, but I would have felt guilty buying a frame that just said Daddy's Girl. Kelly was just as much your little girl as Sophia is, and I want her to know who her big sister was."

"Thank you, Jen," he whispered, leaning in and kissing her softly. "This means a lot."

"You're welcome," she said, smiling up at him. "Now let's get back in there with our daughter before it becomes World War III on who gets to hold her."

Putting the picture on the table, he nodded his head and wrapped his arm around her shoulders as they walked back into the living room.


End file.
